By Georgi Kantchev and Michael Wursthorn 

The S&P 500 rose Thursday, as industrial stocks powered the broad index higher to recoup an earlier loss following better-than-expected earnings reports from several manufacturers.

Upbeat profit reports from tool maker Snap-On and United Rentals pushed industrial stocks in the S&P 500 up more than 1%, while shares of health-care companies regained much of their losses from earlier in the session. Adding to the market's optimism was new data showing a rebound in retail spending and continued strength in the U.S. labor market.

Still, trading remained volatile with several sectors, including technology consumer staples and consumer discretionary stocks, all flipping between gains and losses. With less than two dozen companies in the S&P 500 having reported earnings, some investors say they are standing pat until a bigger chunk of the broad index releases their results and offers guidance on the remainder of the year.

"Companies in the first week and a half have been reporting decent numbers, but they're not blowing the doors off," said Nick Giacoumakis, president of New England Investment and Retirement Group, which manages about $600 million in assets. "It's all about guidance."

The S&P 500 rose 0.16% as of the 4 p.m. close in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 110 points, or 0.4%, climbing to 26559. The Nasdaq Composite rose less than 0.1%.

Thursday's moves left all three major indexes on track to finish the holiday-shortened week higher. Stock and bond markets in the U.S. will be closed for the Good Friday holiday, reopening on Monday, while most major European stock exchanges will remain closed for both days.

Investors are still unsure how long the U.S. economic expansion can last, and many say they are looking to corporate-profit reports for assurances. So far, the economic picture appears strong in the U.S., with most companies topping analysts' profit expectations for the first three months of the year.

Of the 23 companies in the S&P 500 to report results so far, nearly 83% have beaten analysts' expectations, compared with about 69% in the fourth quarter, according to data from FactSet. The bar is significantly lower, however, after steep downgrades to 2019 earnings forecasts in recent months.

Snap-On, for example, posted a stronger-than-expected profit for the first quarter, sending shares up 6.5%. United Rentals added more than 8% after topping analysts' earnings estimates on an adjusted basis.

"There have been a lot of green numbers and not a lot of red," James Athey, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments, said. "That's supportive."

A big reversal in health-care stocks also helped firm up the S&P 500's advance. Health companies in the broad index were recently down less than 0.1% after falling more than 1% earlier in the session, as investors assessed the impact of some legislative proposals, including a plan for a federally financed health system that would expand Medicare to everyone and changes to how costs are disclosed.

But the selling appears to have been overdone.

"These stocks have been completely pounded as if the proposal has been accepted," added Mr. Giacoumakis. He said his firm has been riding out the volatility and hasn't shed any of their health-care assets, believing some of the changes proposed by lawmakers still have a way to go before becoming a reality.

Energy stocks continued to struggle, however. Kinder Morgan led the sector lower, falling about 2%, after the energy company reported a day earlier that revenue fell short of analysts' estimates.

Before the session's start, new retail-spending data showed consumer spending rose last month by its biggest margin in more than a year, reaffirming some investors' convictions in the strength of the U.S. economy. The monthly gain, its biggest since September 2017, halted a weak stretch of spending and signaled to some investors that fears about the softening economy were overblown.

Adding to the optimistic economic outlook in the U.S. was data from the Labor Department showing the number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell to a new 50-year low. The continued strength of the U.S. labor market has contributed to the pickup in spending, some analysts said.

But economic growth around the world remains uneven. Eurozone manufacturing data came in worse-than-expected on Thursday, pushing the euro down against the dollar. In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, the flash purchasing managers index on manufacturing for April rose slightly to 44.5 but came in below forecasts and held substantially below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction. Still, the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2% in recent trading.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6%, while Japan's Nikkei was down 0.8%.

Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com and Michael Wursthorn at Michael.Wursthorn@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 18, 2019 16:23 ET (20:23 GMT)