NEW YORK, July 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended higher on Tuesday as investors digested a batch of corporate earnings and economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 143.07 points, or 0.58 percent, to 24,919.66. The S&P 500 climbed 9.67 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,793.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.00 points, or 0.04 percent, to 7,759.20.

Shares of PepsiCo rose 4.76 percent at market closing, after the company released better-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit on Tuesday.

As the latest corporate earnings season kicked off, investors began to turn their attention to earnings reports.

Overall, S&P 500 companies are expected to post second-quarter profit growth of around 21 percent, slightly higher than what was forecast in April, according to Thomson Reuters data.

On the economic front, the National Federation of Independent Business reported June small business optimism index at 107.2, down 0.6 from May, but still high by historical standards. The index measures the opinion of small businesses on the economic conditions in the country.

Meanwhile, on the last business day of May, the job openings level was down to 6.6 million from a record high of 6.8 million in April, U.S. Labor Department said on Tuesday. Enditem