US stocks rise to solidify January gains amid earnings and a brighter global growth outlook

• US stocks ended higher on Tuesday to wrap up strong January gains.
• The Nasdaq Composite soared 10% after stocks in 2022 suffered bear market losses.
• The Federal Reserve's next rate hike is expected on Wednesday.

US stocks finished higher Tuesday as a crop of corporate earnings and improving snapshots on US wage inflation and global growth rounded off a strong January for equities.

The S&P 500's advance was fueled by 10 of its 11 sectors. From the earnings front, General Motors rose on upbeat guidance from the car maker, and Exxon Mobil's nearly $56 billion in record full-year profit helped push the oil major's shares up.

The International Monetary Fund's upgrade to its 2023 global economic outlook and further slowing of US pay growth in the fourth quarter also provided upside support for stocks.

Next on investors' agenda is the Federal Reserve's expected decision Wednesday to raise interest rates for the eighth straight time but at a slower pace of 25 basis points.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 4,076.60, up 1.46%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,086.04, up 1.09% (368.95 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 11,584.55, up 1.67%

"Overall, we're bullish on the equity market moving into February, as well as for the full year 2023," Greg Bassuk, chief executive officer at AXS Investments, told Insider. "But rather than anticipating a straight trajectory upward, we think that with a combination of mixed corporate earnings results ... with likely mixed economic data, it'll be a little bit more choppy and volatile."

Bassuk said the US economy looks likely to avoid a recession but a flare-up in inflationary pressures remains a risk, he said.

"Whether inflation has peaked or not, the fact is that prices remain elevated. That's going to hamper everything from consumer spending to corporate margins until prices ease a bit," he said. "[That] is another factor that could infuse some hiccups and choppiness in the short-term equity markets."

Here's what else is happening today:

• Prosecutors alleged Sam Bankman-Fried's Robinhood holdings show how the FTX founder tried to cloak his misuse of customers' funds.
• Twitter made its first interest payment on Elon Musk's massive buyout debt, averting bankruptcy for now.
• An investigation found bankrupt crypto lender Celsius wasn't doing business the way it told customers.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude turned higher by 1.5% to $79.10 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost 0.6% at $84.45.
• Gold rose 1.1% to $1,943 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield fell 2 basis points to 3.5%.
• Bitcoin rose 1.8% to $23,140.11.