US STOCKS-Wall Street rebounds as Apple surges ahead of earnings

* 3M slips on downbeat 2020 profit forecast
* U.S. consumer confidence rises in January
* Indexes up: Dow 0.85%, S&P 1.11%, Nasdaq 1.40%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 28 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose over 1% on Tuesday as a
surge in Apple and other technology stocks helped the benchmark
index recover from its worst selloff in about four months that
was sparked by concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.
Markets across the world stabilized as the head of the World
Health Organization (WHO) said he was confident in China's
ability to contain the virus outbreak, which has killed 106
people in the country, prompted businesses to close operations
and curbed travel. President Xi Jinping later said China was sure of defeating
a "devil" coronavirus.
"Investors are still trying to assess the possible impact of
the coronavirus and they probably feel that yesterday's decline
was a bit overdone," said Daniel Grosvenor, director of equity
strategy at Oxford Economics.
"Our base case is that economic impact is likely to be
relatively short-lived, but there is scope for volatility in the
near-term."
The earnings season gathered pace, with Apple Inc AAPL.O
set to report fourth-quarter results after markets close. Its
shares rose 2.4% after a 3% drop on Monday amid a broader market
selloff.
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.
The S&P technology index .SPLRCT , which led Monday's
selloff, rose 1.8%, while financial stocks .SPSY gained 1.5%
as big banks rebounded.
Bolstering the recovery, data showed U.S. consumer
confidence surged to a five-month high in January. At 12:48 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
gained 0.85% to 28,777.77.
The S&P 500 .SPX rose 1.11% at 3,279.53 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 1.40% at 9,267.69.
Earnings are now expected to show a decline of 0.4% for the
fourth quarter, 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 5.5% after it forecast 2020 profit below
expectations as weak demand from China dents overall
growth. Pfizer Inc PFE.N dropped 4.4% 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 5.9% after the
company's profit beat analysts' estimates as it kept a tight lid
on costs. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.54-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 2.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 24 new 52-week highs and three new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 60 new highs and 33 new lows.