U.S. retail sales data boosted Wall Street gains

U.S. retail sales data boosted Wall Street gains

 Stocks on Wall Street closed sharply higher on Tuesday ( Wednesday morning GMT ) supported by reports estimated increase in retail sales in December which includes the holiday shopping season .

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 115.92 points ( 0.71 percent) to 16373.86 .

The broad-market S & P 500 advanced 19.68 points ( 1.08 percent) to 1838.88 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 69.71 points ( 1.69 percent) to 4183.02 .

" The investor decides to buy the stock while slumped on Tuesday , a day after the biggest sell-off in about three months , " said Jon Ogg of 24/7 Wall St. as reported by AFP news agency .

Index recovered from a decline on Monday as investors digested an encouraging report on U.S. retail sales , consumer spending is part of stimulating the economy .

The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.2 percent in December , surprising analysts who expected no change .

"Overall , retail sales in December came as a bit of support after a dismal jobs report on Friday ( 10/1 ) to be a little cause for concern following a string of positive economic data , " said Michael Soni of BBVA Research .

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo 's fourth -quarter earnings season start banking sector with slightly better results than expected .

Member JPMorgan Dow edged up 0.1 percent . Uncle Sam's country's biggest bank posted a 7.2 percent decline in fourth -quarter profit , while adjusted earnings per share reached U.S. $ 1.40 beat expectations by five cents .

Wells Fargo also added 0.1 percent after posting a 10.4 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter , with revenues of U.S. $ 1.00 per share , two cents above estimates .

Technology stocks rose . Microsoft led the Dow higher , advanced 2.3 percent . Intel jumped nearly 4.0 percent after JPMorgan raised its rating on the stock.

Technology heavyweight Apple jumped nearly 2.0 percent .

Time Warner Cable rose 2.7 percent after rejecting a takeover proposal from Charter Communications because all three " woefully inadequate " . Charter rose 2.3 percent .

Google rose 2.4 percent after it announced it was buying Nest Labs , a company that makes home - smart thermostats and smoke alarms , amounting to 3.2 billion dollars in cash .

Bond prices fell . The yield on U.S. 10 - year bond rose to 2.87 percent from 2.83 percent on Monday , while the 30 - year bond rose to 3.80 percent from 3.77 percent . Prices and bond yields move inversely .