By Abhiram Nandakumar
REUTERS - Wall Street was higher in trading on Tuesday as GDP data for the third quarter showed stronger-than-expected growth and crude oil prices eased off multi-year lows.
Brent crude pared some of its losses from Monday, when it slid to its lowest since mid-2004, but global oversupply concerns limited gains. [O/R]
Trading volumes are expected to be relatively light this week, with U.S. stock markets operating a shortened session on Thursday and closing on Friday for Christmas.
"I think the main thing that markets are going to be looking at today is the whole deal with oil," said Matthew Tuttle, chief executive, Tuttle Tactical Management in Stamford, Connecticut.
"Seasonally, this is typically a good week, but coming off what happened last week, all bets are off," Tuttle said, adding that volatility this week was likely to be lower than last week.
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The U.S. Commerce Department trimmed its third-quarter GDP growth to an annual rate of 2 percent from the 2.1 percent it reported last month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP growth revised down to a 1.9 percent rate.
At 9:36 a.m. ET (1436 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 55.52 points, or 0.32 percent, at 17,307.14, the S&P 500 was up 6.07 points, or 0.3 percent, at 2,027.22 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 10.11 points, or 0.2 percent, at 4,979.04.
All 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by the 0.45 percent rise in consumer discretionary sector.
ConAgra Foods shares were up 1.2 percent at $41.50 after its quarterly results.
Chipotle Mexican Grill was down 3.6 percent at $503.60 after Federal authorities said they were investigating a new strain of E. coli linked to the burrito chain.
Dow component Nike was up 1.2 percent at $131.56 ahead of its results after the market closes.
Ford was up 2.2 percent at $14.03 after Automotive News reported that the automaker was in talks with Google to help build self-driving cars.
U.S. existing home sales for November are likely to remain steady, after falling 3.4 percent in October. The report is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m.
Investors will parse the data to gauge the health of the U.S. economy as they keep an eye out for the Federal Reserve's next move.
The central bank last week raised interest rates for the first time in nine years, ending months of uncertainty and speculation.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,788 to 842. On the Nasdaq, 1,215 issues rose and 955 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed three new 52-week highs and five new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 15 new highs and 15 lows.
(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee and Aastha Agnihotri in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)