Wall St. up on earnings, data mixed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as strong earnings and an upbeat consumer confidence reading more than offset weaker-than-expected housing and industrial data.

Ranking among the largest percentage gainers on the S&P 500 were Amgen, AutoNation and Cummins, which reported earnings between late Monday and Tuesday morning. They more than offset declines in Kohl's, Coach and Freeport McMoRan.

Indexes hit session highs in early trading after a report showed U.S. consumer confidence rose in October to its highest level since October 2007 as views on the job market improved.

But separate data showed new orders for capital goods by U.S. businesses had recorded their biggest drop in eight months in September. U.S. single-family home prices rose in August on a year-over-year basis but fell short of expectations.

"We had a mixed bag of data, but earnings are very good," said King Lip, chief investment officer at Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco.

"Corporate earnings continue to surprise and that has been the wind in the sails of this rebound."

At 10:40 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 47.81 points, or 0.28 percent, to 16,865.75, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 9.69 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,971.32 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 44.02 points, or 0.98 percent, to 4,529.95.

The U.S. Federal Reserve begins a two-day policy meeting after which it is expected to reinforce expectations it will wait a long while before rising interest rates. The U.S. central bank is all but certain to announce the end of its massive bond-buying stimulus.

Twitter shares fell 12.6 percent to $42.43 a day after it posted a slide in a closely watched measure of engagement, even as its user base grew in the third quarter.

Madison Square Garden shares rose 11.1 percent to $73.07, a day after the owner of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers said it was mulling a plan to separate its entertainment business from its media and sports business.

Receptos Inc shares jumped 35.2 percent to $98.38 after it said its experimental ulcerative colitis drug had met the main goal in a mid-stage trial.

On the Nasdaq 100, the largest gainer was Tesla , which rose 6.6 percent, while the largest decliner was Staples Inc , down 1.2 percent.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,187 to 681, for a 3.21-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,919 issues rose and 552 fell for a 3.48-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 44 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 74 new highs and 17 new lows.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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