By Noel Randewich
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged on Tuesday and were on track to break a five-day losing streak as attention shifted from trouble in Chinese equities to U.S. corporate earnings and speculation the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike may not come until December.
The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all logged intraday gains of 1 percent or more.
With the S&P falling over the past week towards the low end of a range it has traded in since February, some investors were betting the market was primed for a technical bounce back.
"The S&P has had five down days in a row and a lot of people are starting to nibble," said Michael Matousek, head trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc in San Antonio, which manages about $1 billion.
Market sentiment reflected expectations the Fed would wait until December, rather than September, to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006, Matousek said.
Investors were looking for any signals from Fed Chair Janet Yellen on the timing of a rate increase when a two-day policy meeting concludes on Wednesday. No move on rates is expected this week.
"September is possible but the probability for a December rate hike is increasing," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
At 2:37 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 1.06 percent at 17,624.79. The S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 1.21 percent to 2,092.62 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 0.99 percent to 5,089.57. It previously traded as high as 5,098.
All the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the energy index up <.SPNY> 3.1 percent as oil prices recovered from near six-month lows.
U.S. consumer confidence weakened in July to its lowest level since September, due in part to a less optimistic outlook on the labour market.
Ongoing uncertainty related to China's stock market, which closed lower again on Tuesday, took a backseat to U.S. corporate earnings.
With second-quarter reports well under way, analysts now expect overall earnings of S&P 500 companies to edge up 0.3 percent and revenue to decline 4.0 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Big names scheduled to report on Tuesday include Twitter
Pfizer
SuperValu
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2.75 to 1. On the Nasdaq, 1.85 stocks gained for every one that declined.
The S&P 500 was posting 13 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows; the Nasdaq was recording 33 new highs and 154 new lows.
(Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Don Sebastian and Nick Zieminski)
