Wall Street has enjoyed its strongest session in a month, led by financial and technology stocks after encouraging US factory and construction data suggested the world’s biggest economy was regaining momentum.
The S&P 500 closed 2.39 per cent higher on Tuesday, leaving the index down three per cent in 2016 after partly recovering in recent weeks from a steep selloff in January.
A rally in Apple shares helped give the Nasdaq Composite its strongest day since August.
While manufacturing activity contracted in February, steadying new orders growth and improving inventories offered signs of stability.
Construction spending in January surged to the highest since 2007, while strong auto sales also boosted sentiment.
The data strengthened expectations the US economy is gaining steam after slowing in the fourth quarter.
“What was the spin since last August? That the Chinese slowdown is going to affect the rest of the world,” said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.
“Now we’re seeing there’s virtually no chance we’re going to have a recession.”
Swings in the price of oil have been tightly linked to stock prices in recent months, and on Tuesday they continued their recovery from recent lows, with US crude up two per cent.
In a sign that investors are becoming more confident, the CBOE Volatility index fell 13.87 per cent to its lowest since December 31.
The Dow Jones industrial average surged 2.11 per cent to end at 16,865.08 points.
The S&P 500 jumped 46.12 points to 1,978.35 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.89 per cent to 4,689.60.
The S&P 500 and the Dow had their best one-day percentage gain since January 29. The S&P moved back above its 50-day moving average, which is seen as a sign of improving sentiment.
Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors rose one per cent or more.
Financials surged 3.54 per cent, with Morgan Stanley and Citigroup both rising more than five per cent.
The sector is the worst performer of 2016, down about nine per cent, due partly to fears of debt defaults by energy companies.
The technology sector rose 3.08 per cent. Apple gained 3.97 per cent, giving the biggest boost to the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Utilities, seen as a safe haven in times of trouble, fell 0.49 per cent.
Fiat Chrysler rose 7.15 per cent and Ford added 4.64 per cent after strong US auto sales in February defied fears of a slowdown after a record 2015.
Tesla Motors dropped 2.91 per cent to $US186.35 after influential short seller Citron Research predicted the electric car maker would fall to $100 by year-end due to supply and demand problems.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,550 to 533. On the Nasdaq, 2,117 issues rose and 690 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed nine new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 38 new highs and 49 new lows.
About 8.8 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, in line with the 8.8 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
