Upbeat U.S. and German Data Lift the Markets A declining United States trade deficit and good news on German employment enticed buyers back into stocks on Tuesday, after three days of losses on the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, setting the stage for the first winning session of the new year. All 10 sectors in the S.&P. 500 rose by midday, led by health care, which advanced after Deutsche Bank upgraded the UnitedHealth Group to buy. Shares of UnitedHealth, a Dow component, jumped 3.5 percent, while Tenet Healthcare climbed 4.1 percent as the S.&P. 500"s biggest percentage gainer. The S.&P. gains came after a three-day losing streak, as traders took profits following the index's rally of nearly 30 percent in 2013. "We're getting a nice little snapback following a pretty soggy first couple of days, which created some anxiety because some people think that sets the tone for the year," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at the ConvergEx Group in New York. Volume and news remain light, but people expect this year to be positive so the negative start probably got a bit overdone. The latest evidence of strengthening economic fundamentals in the United States came in the form of the smallest trade deficit in four years in November, as exports hit a record high and weak oil prices restrained import growth. In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, unemployment unexpectedly fell in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, bolstering hopes that German domestic consumption could lift growth. In trading updated through 1:45 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.77 percent, the S.&P. 500 gained 0.66 percent and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.95 percent. With scant items on the economic diary in the United States, traders looked ahead to the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, due on Wednesday, as well as Friday's payrolls report, for clues on the state of the world's largest economy. "Europe's data has not been bad; it gives optimism," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at the Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh. She said investors awaited Friday's jobs report and the start of the corporate earnings season for trading incentives.