US stocks rebound on strong company earnings

Surprisingly strong earnings from Netflix, UnitedHealth Group and other companies put investors in a buying mood Tuesday, driving U.S. stocks solidly higher.

Health care stocks led the gainers. Materials, utilities and a broad swath of other companies also posted gains. Industrials and consumer-focused stocks notched the smallest gains. Energy stocks also rose as the price of crude oil recovered from an earlier slide.

The rally wiped out the market's losses from the day before.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 75.54 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,161.94. Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 13.10 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,139.60. The Nasdaq composite index added 44.01 points, or 0.9 percent, to 5,243.84.

Investors are poring over company earnings reports to gauge the market's prospects for growth in coming months and get a better handle on the state of the economy. About 80 of the companies in the S&P 500 were scheduled to report quarterly results this week. So far, about 10 percent have done so since the latest reporting period began last week.