Wall Street rebound led by gains Internet stocks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks mostly rose on Tuesday, rebounding after three days of declines, as investors bought beaten-down shares of social media and Internet companies.

The day's biggest gainers included Amazon.com Inc up 2.6 percent at $326.14, Yahoo! Inc up 2.8 percent at $34.02, and LinkedIn Corp rose 5.5 percent to $168.38.

The Global X social media index rose 2.4 percent to 18.50.

But blue chips, which had been outperforming the broader market for several days, turned lower in afternoon trading, led by financial stocks. Goldman Sachs Group was down 1.6 percent at $155.99 and JPMorgan Chase off 0.5 percent at $58.62.

Biotechnology stocks were seesawing between gains and losses. The Nasdaq biotechnology index <.NBI> was last down 0.5 percent at 2,356. Gilead Sciences Inc was among the biggest decliners on the S&P 500, down 3.2 percent at $69.95.

The day's gains follow the S&P 500's biggest three-day retreat since late January and the Nasdaq's steepest three-day drop since November 2011.

"The put/call ratio for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust finished (Monday's) session at 2.4, which is near an extreme-high level for 2014," said Bryan Sapp, senior trading analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, Ohio.

"This is a good quantification of near-extreme fear, and previous readings around these levels have marked short-term bottoms for the S&P 500."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 3.79 points or 0.02 percent, to 16,242.08, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 4.74 points or 0.26 percent, to 1,849.78 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 27.92 points or 0.68 percent, to 4,107.672.

The benchmark S&P index rebounded on Tuesday and was above its 50-day moving average around 1,840, a key support level. It has managed to stay above 1,840 several times over the past month.

Earnings season gets under way this week, with results due from companies including Alcoa Inc after the close and retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond on Wednesday. Financials JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co will release results on Friday.

S&P 500 companies' first-quarter earnings are projected to have increased just 1 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed. The forecast is down sharply from the start of the year, when profit growth was estimated at 6.5 percent.

Companies across America are blaming the brutal winter for weak first-quarter results, but investors are expecting a quick rebound in the second quarter.

Gigamon Inc slumped 31 percent to $18.08. The maker of network traffic management software estimated lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue.

Alkermes Plc was a bright spot among biotechs, up 3.1 percent to $42.35 after the company said its experimental drug to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia met the main goal in a late-stage study.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky