By Sweta Singh
REUTERS - U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday, rebounding sharply from Monday's losses, as investors hoped Greece would strike a last-minute deal to avoid an exit from the euro zone.
Greece is hours away from defaulting on a 1.6 billion euro repayment to the International Monetary Fund.
The European Commission made its final push to try to persuade Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to accept a bailout deal he has rejected before.
"We are looking at some sort of a bounce from yesterday's sharp decline," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.
"This last-minute talk of a deal is basically causing some short covering."
U.S. corporations have limited exposure to Greece, but investors are concerned about the fallout across Europe if the country exits the euro zone.
In Asia, Chinese stocks reversed course to end up 5.5 percent after the government and regulators stepped up efforts to reverse a 20 percent slump in the past few weeks.
In U.S. data, single-family home prices rose in April from a year earlier but at a slower pace than forecast, a closely watched survey said on Tuesday.
Investors are also awaiting June consumer confidence data, scheduled to be released at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT). The index is expected to rise to 97.3.
Investors have been closely watching data for clues on the timing of an interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve. The Fed has said it will raise rates when it sees a sustained rebound in the economy.
At 9:54 a.m. EDT (1354 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 76.34 points, or 0.43 percent, at 17,672.69, the S&P 500 was up 10.86 points, or 0.53 percent, at 2,068.5 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 31.45 points, or 0.63 percent, at 4,989.92.
All of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the financials leading with a 0.88 percent gain.
Wells Fargo's shares rose nearly 1 percent to $1.19 in early trading, providing the biggest boost to the financials.
ConAgra Foods Inc fell 1.2 percent to $44.80 after the packaged foods maker said it would exit its struggling private label foods business and reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales.
General Electric rose 0.8 percent after it said it would sell its European private equity financing unit to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking for more than $2 billion.
For-profit education provider Apollo Education fell 12.4 percent to $13.61 after the company reported lower-than-expected sales on Monday.
Signal Genetics shares jumped 39 percent to become the biggest percentage gainer on the Nasdaq after it signed an agreement with a "leading" pharmaceutical company.
Juno Therapeutics surged 25 percent after Celgene signed a 10-year partnership with the company.
Willis Group Holdings shares rose 6 percent to $48.32 after the insurance broker said it would combine with financial services provider Towers Watson & Co. Towers Watson shares fell 2.7 percent.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,184 to 638, for a 3.42-to-1 ratio on the upside. On the Nasdaq, 1,882 issues rose and 519 fell for a 3.63-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.
The S&P 500 index showed 1 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 13 new highs and 38 new lows.
(Additional reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
