Wall Street Rebounds with Bank Earnings in Focus

U.S. stocks were higher on Tuesday, rebounding after the S&P 500's worst three-day drop since November 2011, as bullish investors hoped a solid earnings season would ease global growth concerns.

Citigroup (NYSE:C), up 3.2 percent to $51.48, was among the top boosts to the benchmark S&P index after the bank posted better-than-expected quarterly results and said it would pull out of consumer banking in 11 markets.

But JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) shares lost 1.1 percent to $57.54, after the biggest U.S. bank posted third-quarter earnings. Wells Fargo, the fourth largest U.S. bank, lost 1.6 percent to $49.39 after its results.

The S&P financial index gained 0.7 percent.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shares lost 1.3 percent to $97.82 even after the diversified healthcare company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on the back of strong sales for a new hepatitis C drug.

"Hopefully earnings will take people's minds off erratic and high volatility," said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities in New York.

"As the market moves down, we fully expect that to happen."

The benchmark S&P had fallen in five of the prior six sessions as investors have become concerned about the impact of global economic weakness on U.S. earnings and the potential spread of Ebola.

The index closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since Nov. 16, 2012, on Monday and is now down 6.1 percent from its record closing high on September 18.

S&P 500 companies are expected to show earnings growth of 6.4 percent in the third quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data, with revenue growth expected at 4 percent. After the close, Dow component and chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is set to post results.

At 10:58am, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 84.83 points, or 0.52 percent, to 16,405.9, the S&P 500 gained 12.45 points, or 0.66 percent, to 1,887.19 and the Nasdaq Composite added 39.84 points, or 0.95 percent, to 4,253.50.

The largest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 was Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), up 5.6 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was ONEOK Inc (NYSE:OKE), down 3.3 percent.

The largest percentage gainer on the Nasdaq 100 was NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI), up 5.1 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK), down 2.1 percent.

Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were Bank Of America (NYSE:BAC), up 0.67 percent to $16.51; Petrobras (NYSE:PBR), up 0.23 percent to $17.31; and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD), down 1.09 percent to $2.71.

On the Nasdaq, APPLE (NASDAQ:AAPL), up 0.3 percent to $100.08, and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), up 0.5 percent to $73.34, were among the most actively traded.

Advancing issues were outnumbering declining ones on the NYSE by 2,020 to 953, for a 2.12-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,862 issues were rising and 690 falling for a 2.70-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 6 new 52-week highs and 23 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 16 new highs and 121 new lows.