New York--Wall Street stocks rose early Tuesday, recovering some of the losses from Monday's rout even as Greece edged closer to a debt default.
About 25 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,663.48, up 67.13 points (0.38 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 9.66 (0.47 percent) to 2,067.30, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 28.41 (0.57 percent) to 4,986.88.
US stocks fell sharply Monday in a global equity sell-off sparked by Greece's troubles, with the S&P 500 suffering its sharpest drop in more than 14 months.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said the country would not make a debt repayment of about 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) to the International Monetary Fund due later Tuesday.
Fears about a default "are being soothed somewhat by reports that a last-second deal may still be achieved," said an investor note from Charles Schwab.
US professional services company Towers Watson fell 1.8 percent on news it will combine with insurance broker Willis Group in a deal with an implied equity value of about $18 billion. Willis will hold 50.1 percent of the new company with Towers Watson owning the other 49.9 percent. Willis Group jumped 6.1 percent.
Dow member General Electric advanced 0.5 percent after announcing it reached an agreement to sell its European Sponsored Finance business to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation for about $2.2 billion.
Packaged food company ConAgra Foods gained 1.1 percent as it announced plans to divest its private brands business, which includes hot and ready-to-eat cereal, retail bakery goods and other items. ConAgra chief executive Sean Connolly said he concluded the "time and energy" needed to turn around packaged foods "represent a suboptimal use of our resources."
Biopharmaceutical company Juno Therapeutics shot up 22.9 percent on its announcement that it reached a 10-year venture with Celgene to commercialize Juno's oncology and cell therapy product candidates. Celgene rose 0.7 percent.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.36 percent from 2.32 percent Monday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.12 percent from 3.09 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
AFP
