US STOCKS-U.S. stocks bounce back as trade rhetoric cools

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* Tech stocks lead S&P 500, Nasdaq higher
* Boeing provides biggest lift to the Dow
* Uber and Lyft shift out of reverse
* Indexes up: Dow 0.82%, S&P 0.80%, Nasdaq 1.14%

(Updates to market close)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks on Tuesday
reclaimed some of the ground lost in the prior day's steep
sell-off, with tariff-sensitive technology stocks leading the
S&P 500 and the Nasdaq higher as investors were heartened by a
tonal shift in U.S.-China trade rhetoric.
All three major U.S. indexes closed in the black, although
they pared gains late in the day and clawed back less than half
of Monday's losses, which were the largest one-day percentage
drops in months. The bellwether S&P 500 remains nearly 4% below
its all-time high reached two weeks ago.
Investors' nerves were calmed after U.S. President Donald
Trump referred to the escalating trade war with China as "a
little squabble," and added, "We have a good dialogue going."
Beijing echoed that sentiment. A Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman told reporters: "My understanding is that China and
the United States have agreed to continue pursuing relevant
discussions."
"(Today) was a good buying opportunity in terms of how low
prices got yesterday," said Jim Bell, chief investment officer
at Bell Investment Advisors in Oakland, California. "And now
Trump is trying to smooth the waters.
"I assume a lot of people still take the president seriously
when he makes these comments," Bell added. "There's still strong
support for his policies and people want to believe what he's
saying, that it's going to end well."
Boeing Co BA.N provided the biggest boost to the Dow,
rising 1.7% as tariff-vulnerable industrials buoyed the blue
chip index.
Ralph Lauren Corp RL.N fell 3.7% after the apparel company
posted quarterly results that included disappointing North
American sales.
Uber Technologies UBER.N and ride-hailing rival Lyft Inc
LYFT.O reversed course after their post-debut slides.
Their stocks advanced 7.7% and 4.9%, respectively.
Uber's shares rose another 6.4 percent in after-the bell
trading after a U.S. labor agency said it had concluded that the
company's drivers were independent contractors, not employees.

Walt Disney Co DIS.N announced it would take control of
Comcast Corp's CMCSA.O Hulu in a move to challenge Netflix
NFLX.O and others in the global video streaming war.

Disney stock climbed 1.4%, while Comcast gained 1.5%.
Netflix edged up 0.1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 207.06 points,
or 0.82%, to 25,532.05, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 22.54 points,
or 0.80%, to 2,834.41, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
87.47 points, or 1.14%, to 7,734.49.
Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, all but utilities
.SPLRCU closed in the black. Technology stocks posted the
largest percentage gains, climbing 1.6%.
Chipmakers enjoyed a reprieve, with the Philadelphia SE
Semiconductor Index .SOX rising 2.4% after suffering its worst
one-day percentage loss since Jan. 3.
The first-quarter earnings season is winding down, with 453
of the S&P 500 companies having reported. Of those, 75.3% beat
analyst expectations, slightly below the 76% beat rate for the
last four quarters.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
3.16-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.67-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and six new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 51 new highs and 86 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.62 billion shares, compared
to the 7.01 billion average over the last 20 trading days.