US STOCKS-Wall St bounces back after selloff as investors focus on earnings

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal

April 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes recovered some ground on Tuesday as investors focused on corporate earnings after President Donald Trump's mounting criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell led to a sharp selloff in the previous session.

Investors sifted through a slew of quarterly earnings, with dozens more due through the week, for indications on how companies are navigating the uncertainty caused by tariffs and their expectations for a hit to future earnings.

"There's still a lot of uncertainty in the air with where tariffs will land... but if we can look past that, the fundamentals in the markets still look very good," said Eric Sterner, chief investment officer for Apollon Wealth Management.

"Earnings are expected to grow 10% for this first quarter, so corporate profits are still very healthy."

Shares of industrial conglomerate 3M Co MMM.N, the biggest gainer on the blue-chip Dow, jumped 3.4% after the company beat first-quarter profit expectations.

Verizon VZ.N fell 2.4% after posting a higher quarterly subscriber loss. Northrop Grumman NOC.N slumped 8.7% after it reported a sharp drop in profit, while RTX RTX.N tumbled 8% after the company flagged a potential hit of about $850 million to annual profit from tariffs.

At 09:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 568.66 points, or 1.49%, to 38,739.07, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 69.03 points, or 1.34%, to 5,227.23, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 240.11 points, or 1.51%, to 16,111.01.

Megacaps also recovered, with Nvidia NVDA.O rising 1.1% and Apple AAPL.O up 1.7%.

All sectors on the S&P 500 inched higher, with consumer discretionary .SPLRCD taking the lead.

Tesla TSLA.O, which will kick off earnings for the "Magnificent Seven" group of megacap stocks after markets close, rose 2.1%.

The mood, however, remained fragile as investors awaited Trump's next move in his relentless tussle with Powell over interest rates, fueling concerns about the central bank's autonomy and the future monetary policy path, which pushed Wall Street down more than 2% on Monday.

Clarity on U.S. tariff policy and the outcome of negotiations with individual countries on reciprocal levies are also in focus.

Indexes have fallen sharply this year as Trump's erratic trade policies rattled markets, with the S&P 500 .SPX more than 14% below its February 19 record closing high.

A close 20% below that mark would confirm that the index has entered a bear market. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC confirmed it was in a bear market earlier this month.

The International Monetary Fund slashed its forecasts for growth in the U.S. on Tuesday to 1.8% in 2025, from 2.8% growth in 2024.

Commentary from several Fed speakers is expected through the day. Their remarks will be parsed for clues on the central bank's policy outlook and view on rising tensions with the White House.

Shares of Invesco IVZ.N leapt 8.7% after the asset manager reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 9.24-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 4.52-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 11 new highs and 27 new lows.