Stocks notch 3rd gain in a row, led by banks, retailers

U.S. stocks rose for the third day in a row Tuesday, led by banks, retailers and technology companies. The rebound over the last few days follows a harrowing drop of more than 10% over the previous two weeks.

After a wobbly start, stocks started climbing, and they wound up with their most placid day in the last few weeks.

Amazon climbed once again, and athletic apparel companies rose after Under Armour issued solid results.

Apple recouped some more of its recent losses. Energy firms slipped again. Companies that distribute prescription drugs and medical supplies slumped.

Stocks have been making big swerves up and down recently. But on Tuesday, the gap between the Dow’s highest mark and its lowest was a more modest 284 points.

Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide Investment Management, said investors who had steered clear of the stock market started to pile in over the last few months, but that round of buying ended abruptly. “The pattern that we saw over the last month and a half is not by any stretch of the imagination unusual,” he said. “But it is compressed. It normally doesn’t happen over a sixweek period.”

Under Armour leaped 17.4% to $16.70 after it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales.

Amazon climbed 2% to $1,414.51. Dollar stores, department stores and clothing companies rose too.

Prescription drug distributor AmerisourceBergen jumped 9.3% to $97.77 after the Wall Street Journal reported that Walgreens Boots Alliance wants to buy the stake in the company it doesn’t already own. Walgreens edged down 17 cents to $68.29.

Separately, the Journal reported Amazon is looking to win over hospitals and clinics to distribute medical products. Two other distributors of prescription drugs also fell. Cardinal Health slid 3.4% to $65.69. McKesson fell 1.9% to $146.18.

The Federal Trade Commission said it is suing three large dental product suppliers, alleging they conspired to deny discounts to groups that buy products for small practices. Henry Schein, Patterson and privately held Benco rejected the allegations. Henry Schein shares sank 6.6% to $67.39. Patterson slid 5.2% to $31.21.

Nutrition supplement company GNC Holdings soared 18.1% to $4.95 after it formed a joint venture with Harbin Pharmaceutical Group of China.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.83% from 2.86%.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 10 cents to $59.19 a barrel. Brent crude rose 13 cents to $62.72 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $1.69 a gallon. Heating oil stayed at $1.84 a gallon. Natural gas rose 4 cents to $2.59 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $4 to $1,330.40 an ounce. Silver fell 4 cents to $16.53 an ounce. Copper rose 8 cents to $3.16 a pound.

The dollar fell to 107.69 yen from 108.67 yen. The euro rose to $1.2355 from $1.2284.