Earnings lift Wall St. despite mixed data

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. Their gains overshadowed declines in Kohl's, Coach and Freeport McMoRan.

U.S. consumer confidence rose in October to its highest since October 2007 as views on the job market improved, but separate data showed new orders for capital goods by U.S. businesses fell the most 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."

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.

At 11:47 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 57.45 points, or 0.34 percent, to 16,875.39, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 11.19 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,972.82 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 52.09 points, or 1.16 percent, to 4,538.02.

The smallcap Russell 2000 index <.TOY> climbed 1.7 percent and has gained more than 8 percent in the past 11 sessions.

Twitter shares fell 10.2 percent to $43.63 a day after it posted a slide in a closely watched measure of engagement, even as its user base grew in the third quarter.

The largest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 was Whirlpool , which rose 7.2 percent, while the largest decliner was Kohl's , down 7.5 percent.

On the Nasdaq 100 the largest gainer was Tesla , which rose 7.1 percent, while the largest decliner was Ross Stores , down 1.3 percent.

Madison Square Garden shares jumped 10.8 percent to $72.91, 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.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,348 to 599, for a 3.92-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 2,043 issues rose and 521 fell for a 3.92-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 49 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 90 new highs and 22 new lows.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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