Bulls Battle Back

(Updated with Treasuries, stock and commodity prices.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wall Street warmed back up to stocks Tuesday after eyeing better-than-expected earnings reports and a silver lining in mixed economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 82.07 points, or 0.9%, to 9217.41, while the S&P 500 tacked on 9.94 points, or 1%, to 989.67. The Nasdaq Composite edged up 25.08 points, or 1.3%, to 1955.92.

Gains were broad-based, with the KBW bank, Philadelphia semiconductor and Philadelphia oil service sector indices all up more than 2%. Among financials, American Express(AXP Quote) added almost 4.4% after an upgrade .

Retail also found upside after Home Depot (HD Quote) and Target (TGT Quote) both topped expectations despite declining profit. Shares were up 2.8% and 7.6%, respectively.

The largest U.S. home-improvement retailer also increased its full-year earnings guidance. That comes a day after rival Lowe's (LOW Quote) posted disappointing sales and earnings results and forecast third-quarter earnings that fell short of expectations.

The broader rebound comes off a global selloff on Monday as indicators and earnings gave a mixed picture of the economic recovery.

"Yesterday was a bit of a reality check of people asking what kind of growth are we going to see going forward," says Charles Rotblut, senior market analyst with Zacks Investment Research. Now people are watching to see if yesterday's movement was part of a pullback or more of a blip, he says.

Economic data were again mixed on Tuesday. The Commerce Department said construction started on homes and apartments fell unexpectedly by 1% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 581,000 units, from an upwardly revised rate of 587,000 in June.