By Amy Caren Daniel
All 11 major S&P sectors were trading higher, with financials rising 0.59 pct.
Shares of U.S. lenders - Citigroup, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs - rose between 0.20 percent and 1 percent.
The KBW bank index gained 1.04 percent, recovering from a 3 percent loss raked in over three sessions as investors fretted about banks' exposure to Turkey.
The lira recovered after Turkey's central bank moved to ease pressure on the currency, triggering a surge of as much as 7 percent to 6.4 per U.S. dollar.
"The theme of today is a relief rally from the lira's lashing," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York.
"Investors are focusing on earnings today. Earnings are coming in much better than expected, and now retailers are starting to report and expectations are high for them."
Among the encouraging earnings reports was Home Depot, whose shares climbed 0.5 percent after the home improvement retailer beat analysts' quarterly sales estimates despite signs of a slowdown in the housing market.
The report from Home Depot, a member of Dow Jones Industrial Average, sent the shares of smaller rival Lowe's higher by 1.2 percent.
At 11:24 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 105.84 points, or 0.42 percent, at 25,293.54, the S&P 500 was up 16.69 points, or 0.59 percent, at 2,838.62 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 47.48 points, or 0.61 percent, at 7,867.19.
The materials sector rose 1.05 percent and was the top percentage gainer among the S&P sectors.
Technology shares, up 0.53 percent, was the biggest boost to the benchmark index, led by Microsoft's 1.1 percent rise.
Also lifting the sector was shares of Nvidia, which gained 1.6 percent after the company rolled out its newest generation of chip technology.
Tapestry jumped 12.4 percent, the most on the S&P index, after strong sales of its Kate Spade handbags helped the company's full-year forecast top analysts' expectations.
Advance Auto Parts rose 7.5 percent after the company beat quarterly profit estimates and announced a new share buyback program.
The second-quarter earnings season is tapering down. Of the 458 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 79 percent have beaten analysts' estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.40-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.18-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 18 new 52-week highs and one new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 64 new highs and 51 new lows.
(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)