Adding to the optimism, US job growth surged in January, pointing to underlying strength in the economy despite a darkening outlook that has left the Fed wary about more interest rate hikes this year.
The Labor Department showed nonfarm payrolls jumped by 304,000 jobs last month, the largest gain since February 2018. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls increasing by 165,000. The report was followed by better-than-expected
manufacturing activity and consumer sentiment data for the last month.
"It's really difficult not to see this set of data as anything other than positive," said Matt Forester, chief investment officer at Lockwood Advisors. "A very strong employment report is showing it's too early to sell the stocks on recession in the near-term."
Amazon.com Inc fell 4.2 percent after its quarterly sales forecast fell short of Wall Street estimates, overshadowing its record sales and profit during the holiday season.
The results weighed on other retail stocks, with Walmart Inc, Macy's Inc and Kohl's Corp dropping about 3 percent lower. The S&P consumer discretionary index fell 1.4 percent.
At 11:20 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 116.18 points, or 0.46 percent, at 25,115.85, the S&P 500 was up 4.28 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,708.38 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 5.18 points, or 0.07 percent, at 7,276.56.
Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp jumped more than 3 percent after the oil majors reported better-than-expected quarterly profits, boosting the Dow Jones industrial index.
The S&P energy index rose 1.8 percent, led by higher oil prices and upbeat earnings in the sector.