US STOCKS-Apple sparks Wall St bounce ahead of results

* 3M falls on downbeat 2020 profit forecast
* U.S. consumer confidence rises in January
* Dow up 0.65%, S&P 500 up 1.01%, Nasdaq up 1.43%

(Updates to market close)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rebounded on
Tuesday, as the S&P 500 bounced back from its worst day in
nearly four months, led by a climb in Apple and other names hit
by exposure concerns to the coronavirus outbreak in China that
sparked a recent sell-off.
Markets across the world stabilized as the head of the World
Health Organization (WHO) said he was confident in China's
ability to stem the virus outbreak, which has killed 106 people
in the country, prompted businesses to close operations and
curbed travel. Still, the U.S. health and human services secretary said new
steps were being considered to counter the virus, including
travel restrictions to China. "Certainly the virus has not gone away, in fact it is only
getting worse," said Ken Polcari, senior market strategist at
SlateStone Wealth LLC in Jupiter, Florida.
"But all the excitement now is that nobody thinks Apple is
going to miss at all, on any line."
Sectors that were hit hardest on Monday saw their fortunes
reverse, with technology .SPLRCT and financials .SPSY among
the best performers in the session.
Helping dampen concerns about a hit to the economy from the
virus was data that showed U.S. consumer confidence surged to a
five-month high in January. Inc AAPL.O shares led each of the three major
indexes higher, up 2.83% ahead of its fourth-quarter results
expected after markets closed.
Investors will keep a close watch on Apple's earnings amid
concerns of a disruption in iPhone production as the coronavirus
spreads across major markets such as China.
Apple's gains helped lift the S&P technology index 1.87% as
the best performing sector on the day, while financial stocks
gained 1.13% as a climb in Treasury yields helped big banks
rebound. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 186.3 points,
or 0.65%, to 28,722.1, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 32.6 points, or
1.01%, to 3,276.23 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 130.37
points, or 1.43%, to 9,269.68.
The Dow snapped a five-session losing streak, its longest
drought without a gain since early August.
Expectations for fourth-quarter earnings have been slowly
improving and are now expected to show a decline of 0.4%,
according to Refinitiv data. Of the 104 companies that have
reported so far, 68.3% have topped expectations, lagging the
average rate of 74% from the past four quarters.
Results were mixed on Tuesday, with U.S. industrial giant 3M
Co MMM.N sliding 5.73% after it forecast 2020 profit below
expectations as weak demand from China dents overall
growth. Pfizer Inc PFE.N dropped 5.13% after the drugmaker
reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and said it
would no longer rely on share repurchases to help drive
growth. Shares in Xerox Holdings Corp XRX.N jumped 4.94% after the
company's profit beat analysts' estimates as it kept a tight lid
on costs. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by
a 2.26-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.17-to-1 ratio favored
advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and four new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 66 new highs and 44 new lows.
About 6.75 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges,
compared with the 7.4 billion-share daily average over the last
20 sessions.

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