U.S. stocks end higher to kick off 2017 trading

U.S. stocks rebounded Tuesday, the first trading day of 2017, as Wall Street meditated on a batch of positive economic reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 119.16 points, or 0.60 percent, to 19,881.76. The S&P 500 added 19.00 points, or 0.85 percent, to 2,257.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 45.97 points, or 0.85 percent, to 5,429.08.

The December purchasing managers' index (PMI) registered 54.7 percent, an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the November reading and beating market consensus, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Tuesday.

"It is hard to imagine a better ISM manufacturing report to end 2016. The substantial rise in production and prices indicates strong current activity and the jump in new orders signals it should be maintained for the next several months," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that construction spending during November 2016 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,182.1 billion U.S. dollars, 0.9 percent above the revised October estimate of 1,171.4 billion dollars.

Oil prices were also in focus Tuesday, which reversed sharp early increases to settle over 2 percent lower after hitting 18-month highs.

Investor sentiment was initially buoyed by hopes that a deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members to cut production will drain a global supply glut, but then weighed on by a surging U.S. dollar, which made greenback-denominated crude more expensive to holders of other currencies.

U.S. stock markets were closed Monday for the New Year holiday. On Friday, U.S. stocks declined for a third straight day, ending the year of 2016 on a downbeat note.

Despite Friday's decline, all three major indices witnessed solid gains for the year, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq surging 13.4 percent, 9.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. Enditem