Best day of the year for the S&P 500

NEW YORK - The U.S. stock market marched higher Tuesday, giving the Standard & Poor's 500 index its best day of the year.

Investors rallied behind an encouraging report on the Chinese economy as well as strong quarterly results from Apple and other big companies.

The market continues on its recovery from last week's swoon and has erased much of its losses over the last two weeks.

"I think it's too early to call to call this a new rally, but I think there are definite signs that investors are gaining confidence again after last week's volatility," said Kristina Hooper, head of U.S. investment strategies at Allianz Global Investors.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 37.27 points, or 1.96 percent, to 1,941.28. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 215.14 points, or 1.31 percent, to 16,614.81. The Nasdaq composite rose 103.40 points, or 2.40 percent, to 4,419.48.

This week so far has been a contrast to last week's turbulence in many ways. Volatility is down, the S&P 500 index is on pace to have its best week of the year and the price of crude oil has stopped sliding. The bond market has also stabilized, with the 10-year Treasury note remaining around 2.20 percent for the last several days.

Apple gave a boost to the overall market. The maker of iPhones and iPads rose $2.71, or 2.7 percent, to $102.47 after its quarterly results easily beat analysts' expectations. Apple said it earned $1.42 a share last quarter, helped by strong sales of the latest version of the iPhone.

Investors also had an encouraging report out of Asia. China's economy expanded by 7.3 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier. Analysts had expected 6.9 percent.

Coca-Cola fell $2.61, or 6 percent, to $40.68 after the company warned it might not meet its previous financial targets. While its earnings came in roughly where analysts had expected them to be, Coke said it doesn't expect to meet its long-term target of high-single-digit growth.

In commodities, oil prices were rising after weeks of declines. Crude gained as the better-than-expected economic data from China suggested higher global demand for oil. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 10 cents to close at $82.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 82 cents to close at $86.22 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the NYMEX, wholesale gasoline rose 1.3 cents to close at $2.213 a gallon, heating oil rose 2.7 cents to close at $2.513 a gallon and natural gas rose 4.1 cents to close at $3.711 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In metals trading, gold rose $7 to $1,251.70 an ounce, silver rose 20 cents to $17.55 an ounce and copper rose four cents to $3.03 a pound.