By Yashaswini Swamynathan
REUTERS - Wall Street rose for the first time in three days on Tuesday, helped by technology and discretionary stocks.
The S&P 500 technology sector rose 0.8 percent and gave the biggest boost to the benchmark index, powered by Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet.
The consumer discretionary index rose 0.88 percent after a report showed that the consumer confidence index for September rose to its highest level in nine years.
"The number came in much better than expected, so consumer stocks seem to be catching a bit after having a hard time for probably a month or two," said Mark Spellman, portfolio manager at Alpine Funds in New York.
The discretionary index had lost 2.5 percent in the past two months.
At 12:31 p.m. ET (1631 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 134.26 points, or 0.74 percent, at 18,229.09.
The S&P 500 was up 13.16 points, or 0.61 percent, at 2,159.26.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 39.57 points, or 0.75 percent, at 5,297.06.
Oil prices plunged 3.5 percent as hopes for a deal to cut output faded as major producers meet in Algeria. The S&P 500 energy index was the biggest loser, falling 0.77 percent.
Gilead Sciences was the top drag on the S&P and the Nasdaq, falling 2 percent after Leerink downgraded the drugmaker's stock to "market perform".
Amazon.com, Netflix, Priceline, TripAdvisor and Twitter were trading higher after JPMorgan raised price targets on their stocks.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,748 to 1,186. On the Nasdaq, 1,641 issues rose and 1,058 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 10 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 52 new highs and 26 new lows.
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
