Dow jumps more than 2% as US stocks rebound on strong earnings

Wall Street stocks surged higher on Tuesday as a batch of strong earnings reports pushed aside lingering doubts about the economy and trade fights that have pressured markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished a buoyant session a hair below session peaks, ending at 25 798.42 points, up 2.2% or nearly 550 points. The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 2.2% to 2 809.92, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.9% to 7 645.49.

Investors were cheered by strong earnings from banks and health care companies that helped them ignore - at least for now - the worries about trade fights and higher US interest rates that had sparked a steep, two-day selloff last week.

"Today what we are seeing is largely related to earnings results," said Lindsey Bell, investment strategist at CFRA Research, who added that the earnings thus far, while upbeat, came from a relatively small number of major companies. "It is not going to be all good news throughout the earnings season," she said.

Investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs won 5.8% and 3.0% following earnings results.

Dow members Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth Group won 2.0% and 4.6% after reporting earnings.

Another Dow company, Walmart jumped 2.1% despite cutting its full-year earnings forecast following spending connected to a large acquisition in India. The giant retailer argued the investment was needed to meet consumer demand as it competes with Amazon for market share.

Software giant Adobe shot up 9.5% after outlining revenue targets that topped analyst expectations.

Analysts also cited Labour Department data that showed record job openings in August, suggesting a tightening labour market.