Analysts say data from MasterCard showed US holiday retail sales up 5.1%, the strongest growth in six years.
Confidence was also boosted by White House assurances that Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's job was safe.
"The market is extremely oversold where we left it [on Monday]," said Brett Ewing, chief market strategist at First Franklin Financial Services, based in Florida.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.