U.S. stocks rally on pending housing data, earnings

NEW YORK, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday after a surprise rise in pending home sales and a few upbeat earnings reports helped to ease the market sentiment.

The U.S. National Association of Realtors reported on Tuesday that the seasonally adjusted index of pending home sales for December rose 6.3 percent to 87.7 from an upwardly revised November reading of 82.5.

Corporate earnings continued to be market's focus. The drugmaker Merck