Wall Street rebounded sharply on Tuesday, driven by a set of strong corporate results and recovering crude oil prices, ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting and Apple's results. The Dow rose 1.5 percent, while the S&P 500 was up 1 percent. All 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by the 2.15 percent rise in the energy sector. Crude prices jumped 3 percent on hopes that Opec and non-Opec producers would tackle an unrelenting supply glut.
Investors are still reeling from a turbulent start to 2016, which saw Wall Street post its worst-ever start to a year and a two-day recovery late last week was largely wiped out on Monday. "I think the market is just oversold on a near-term basis," said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James Financial in Florida. "We're getting a rally here and it's not because of any particular event," he said, adding that traders were likely taking up positions ahead of Apple's earnings report.
At 11:01 am ET (1601 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 249.76 points, or 1.57 percent, at 16,134.98, the S&P 500 was up 20.45 points, or 1.09 percent, at 1,897.53 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 24.36 points, or 0.54 percent, at 4,542.85. While the Fed is not expected to move on interest rates at its two-day meeting, which begins on Tuesday, investors will parse the commentary to gauge the impact of the recent global turmoil on the central bank's outlook.
Exxon was up 1.8 percent while Chevron rose 3.2 percent. 3M was up 4.9 percent at $144.28, giving the biggest boost to the Dow, while Johnson & Johnson's 2.9 percent rise to $99.20 boosted the S&P 500. Both companies reported better-than-expected quarterly profits. Procter & Gamble was up 3 percent at $79.15 after its profit beat estimates, while Coach jumped 7.9 percent to $32.75 after it reported its first increase in sales in 10 quarters.