NEW YORK - US stocks got off to a strong start Tuesday as investors found encouragement from a weaker-than-expected report on wholesale inflation and a series of strong corporate earnings announcements.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 50.41 points (0.50 percent) to 10,121.66, and the Nasdaq composite rose 12.98 points (0.68 percent) to 1,925.90 at 1540 GMT.
The Standard and Poor's 500 broad-market index added 5.88 points (0.51 percent) to 1,151.86.
Investors were generally in a buying mood as they sifted through details of economic data and earnings reports.
Although US producer prices rose a stronger-than-expected 0.7 percent in March, core inflation, excluding food and energy, rose by just 0.1 percent.
Another report showed a 17.6 percent drop in housing starts, but some saw this as a welcome cooling sign for the red-hot housing market.
The market shrugged off a rise in crude oil, which jumped 1.38 dollars to 51.75 dollars in New York.
Among the flood of earnings reports, Pfizer's profit came in better than expected when special charges were excluded, and revenues for the pharmaceutical giant topped Wall Street's forecast.
General Motors Corp. reported an adjusted first-quarter loss of 1.48 dollars a share, matching its earlier outlook and topping analysts' forecasts by a penny.
Strategists said the undertone of the market indicates a turnaround after last week's sharp losses.
"There was a quite a bit of reversal action yesterday that didn't show up in the overall stock market," said Jim Paulson, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management.
"I think that was the start of the recovery, and today is a little bit of the follow through to that."
Helping stocks regroup, Paulson said, has been a big revaluation in bond yields, which have fallen to a two-month low.
Alfred Goldman at AG Edwards said the current period represents a test for Wall Street after last week's steep declines.
"Last week's selloff had a number of the earmarks associated with panic dumping," he said.
"The market was short-term oversold, pessimism was up sharply, and good news was being ignored. How the market performs during this initial rebound will speak to its underlying strength."
Among active shares, Coca-Cola was a leader in blue chips, rising 1.12 to 42.09 after the soft-drink giant said it was making progress on its growth goals even though its earnings came in short of forecasts.
In technology, Texas Instruments jumped 1.18 to 24.10 after the semiconductor firm reported a 12 percent increase in profits and offered an upbeat outlook.
Semiconductor sector leader Intel, due to report its results after the close, rose 15 cents to 22.36.
In the pharmaceutical sector, Johnson and Johnson dipped 34 cents to 68.70 even after its profit rise of 17 percent topped Wall Street forecasts. Sector leader Pfizer, whose earnings were hit by the withdrawal of a key drug, fell 27 cents to 27.33.
Merrill Lynch rose 79 cents to 54.03 after the brokerage giant's lower profit was ahead of most forecasts.
General Motors remained in a downward spiral, losing 1.11 to 25.08 as the auto giant reported a 1.1-billion-dollar loss for the latest quarter.
Bonds were firm after the inflation report eased market fears. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond dipped to 4.207 percent from 4.249 percent Monday, and that on the 30-year bond fell to 4.538 percent against 4.587 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

04/19/2005 16:07 GMT