US STOCKS-Wall Street rebounds as market eyes tech results, strong U.S. data

* U.S. stocks snap back after prior day's steep sell-off
* Pinterest's big revenue beat lifts social media cos
* Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook report after bell

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to close)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed higher on
Thursday, with the technology heavyweights rallying ahead of
major earnings reports and upbeat domestic economic data calming
investor jitters about surging coronavirus cases.
The rebound came after a more than 3% slide a day earlier in
Wall Street's main indexes, underscoring heightened market
volatility ahead of the presidential election next week and
growing fears of another COVID slowdown.
Stocks rallied as investors anticipated strong results from
a line-up of the biggest names in the U.S. corporate universe -
Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Alphabet Inc
GOOGL.O and Facebook Inc FB.O - due after market close.
"The earnings season so far has resulted in significant
positive earnings surprises," said Tim Ghriskey, chief
investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York. "We
think that's helping to fuel today's rally in anticipation of
positive surprises from these companies."
Tech companies have seen demand surge for their products and
services from people stuck at home during the pandemic. A
better-than-expected earnings report from Pinterest Inc
PINS.N , which forecast a rebound in ad spending, helped spur
the rally. Shares of the image-sharing company soared more than
28%. The NYSE FANG+TM Index .NYFANG jumped 3.2%. Communication
services .SPLRCS , materials .SPLRCM and technology .SPLRCT
rose the most among major S&P sectors.
Sentiment also got a boost from data showing the U.S.
economy grew at a record pace in the third quarter after the
government poured out more than $3 trillion of pandemic aid. A
separate report showed weekly unemployment claims fell last
week.
"It's positive data, but it's a little bit backward looking
because you have COVID-19 cases on the rise again which doesn't
really send a strong signal about the fourth quarter," said
Shawn Snyder, head of investment strategy at Citi Personal
Wealth Management in New York.
The CBOE volatility index .VIX surged to a 15-week high
this week due to lack of fiscal stimulus, while the White House
coronavirus task force urged for aggressive measures to curb the
pandemic.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden holds a comfortable lead
over President Donald Trump in national polls, but the race in
battleground states that will likely decide the election are
tighter than the national surveys. Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
139.03 points, or 0.52%, to 26,658.98, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
39.11 points, or 1.20%, to 3,310.14 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 180.73 points, or 1.64%, to 11,185.59.
Coach owner Tapestry Inc TPR.N climbed 4% as it beat
quarterly profit estimates and forecast growth for the year as
demand for luxury handbags and apparel rebounded in China from
pandemic lows.