Wall Street bounces back on profits and outlooks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rebounded on Tuesday, bouncing back from three-month lows set in the previous session, after Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) announced earnings that beat estimates and gave a robust profit outlook, lifting the technology sector.
Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest personal computer maker, forecast first-quarter earnings per share before items above Wall Street's expectations late on Monday.
The gains could be tenuous, however, because of negative news in the housing sector and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, which has many market participants absent for most of the week, leaving stocks vulnerable to swift turnarounds.
Bad news included a larger-than expected quarterly loss at Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the second largest U.S. mortgage finance company, and data showing a drop in building permits in October.
Freddie Mac posted a $2 billion quarterly loss. Its shares plunged 25 percent to an 11-year low.
"Hewlett-Packard is certainly giving us a little bit of a positive boost," said Marc Pado, a San Francisco-based U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.
"There's obviously still a lot of concern about the extent of damage to financial institutions and we're definitely not through it yet. We'll continue to see it all the way through the fourth quarter."
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI: Quote, Profile, Research) was up 64.87 points, or 0.50 percent, at 13,023.31. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX: Quote, Profile, Research) was up 6.64 points, or 0.46 percent, at 1,439.91. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC: Quote, Profile, Research) was up 15.54 points, or 0.60 percent, at 2,608.92.

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