Wall Street gains on earnings, economic optimism

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Tuesday as the latest batch of earnings and regional manufacturing data brightened the economic outlook and enticed investors back into equities.

Shares related to U.S. dollar-priced commodities rose the most as the greenback fell against the euro and Swiss franc. Oil futures jumped nearly 4 percent to about $77 per barrel. The CRB commodities index <.CRB> rose 2.7 percent, its largest daily percentage advance in three months.

Energy company Chevron Corp rose 2.3 percent at $72.67.

Shares of Merck & Co gained 3 percent to $38.03 after the drugmaker posted quarterly revenue above analysts' estimates.

"Earnings have been strong and people are starting to believe the recovery we're seeing in the economy is real," said Angel Mata, managing director of listed equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets in Baltimore.

"There's more of a fear that investors will miss the next move up, as opposed to not being involved and watching the market go down."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 115.11 points, or 1.14 percent, to 10,214.25. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 13.97 points, or 1.30 percent, to 1,089.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> advanced 21.47 points, or 0.98 percent, to 2,205.00.

Also helping sentiment, the New York Federal Reserve's gauge of manufacturing in New York state rose more than expected in February as inventories jumped.

Simon Property Group Inc said it made a $10 billion offer for General Growth Properties Inc , boosting optimism in the battered commercial real estate market in a combination of the two largest U.S. shopping mall owners. Simon shares rose 3.9 percent to $74.80.

JPMorgan Chase & Co will buy the non-U.S. assets of commodities joint venture RBS Sempra from Royal Bank of Scotland and Sempra Energy for $1.7 billion in cash, roughly doubling its commodities client base and making the second-largest U.S. bank by assets even bigger.

Financial stocks got a boost from Britain's Barclays Plc , which said it nearly doubled profits in 2009 to $18.2 billion.

JPMorgan shares jumped 2.2 percent to $39.81 and the KBW bank index <.BKX> rose 2.5 percent.

Southern Company's shares rose 1.5 percent to $31.63 after U.S. President Barack Obama announced a loan guarantees of $8 billion to build the first U.S. nuclear plant in nearly three decades, saying the United States will not achieve a boost in nuclear capacity without incentives to make "clean" energy profitable.

Southern subsidiary Georgia Power received the guarantees. The Market Vector Nuclear Energy ETF rose 2.5 percent to $21.66.

On the Nasdaq, shares of chipmaker Intel rose 1.5 percent to $20.73 after a brokerage raised its rating on the stock.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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