(Reuters) - Stocks rose modestly on Tuesday as stronger oil prices led a rebound from the previous session when stocks closed at their lowest in a month. Both U.S. crude and Brent futures rose more than 1.5 percent after Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for oil, citing strong fuel demand growth. Occidental Petroleum (OXY.N), the fourth-largest U.S. oil company, rose 2.2 percent while the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE.P) was 1.8 percent higher.

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(Reuters) - New single-family home sales rose unexpectedly in April to notch their second straight month of gains and prices increased, offering some hope for the stagnant housing market. The Commerce Department said sales increased 7.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 323,000 unit annual rate, the highest level since December, from a slightly upwardly revised 301,000-unit pace in March.

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(Reuters) - Europe's policy options to manage Greece's debt crisis are narrowing fast with the European Central Bank and credit ratings agencies warning against even a voluntary debt restructuring and Athens highlighting the risk of an imminent default unless it gets more EU money. Moody's became the latest ratings agency on Tuesday to warn of a chain reaction of severe consequences for the 17-nation euro area if Greece were allowed to default next month, when it faces a 13.4 billion euro ($18.85 billion) funding crunch.

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(Reuters) - Russian internet search firm Yandex's initial public offering was oversubscribed by 17 times, a source said, as analysts predicted big price gains when its stock starts trading on the U.S. Nasdaq exchange on Tuesday. Yandex's $1.3 billion offering, the biggest U.S. internet listing since Google Inc went public in 2004, comes on the heels of last week's blowout float by networking site LinkedIn Corp amid demand reminiscent of the dot.com boom.

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(Reuters) - Consumers, already hard hit by a sharp collapse in home prices, are facing renewed challenges from higher gasoline costs, Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke said on Tuesday. In remarks focused primarily on financial literacy, Duke offered some flavor of her views on the economy. Her tone was not very optimistic, suggesting she is unlikely to begin pressing for interest rate hikes any time soon.

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(Reuters) - Oil rose more than $2 per barrel on Tuesday, taking Brent crude futures to almost $113, after Goldman Sachs increased its forecasts for the North Sea benchmark, citing strong fuel demand growth. The U.S. investment bank raised its year-end target for Brent to $120 per barrel from $105 and its 2012 forecast to $140 from $120, saying rising demand for fuel would draw global inventories and strain OPEC's spare oil output capacity.

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(Reuters) - Commodities trader Glencore's shares were stuck under water on their first day of official trade, dashing hopes of a strong start after it set a mid-range flotation price for London's largest ever offering. Sources close to the matter had said Glencore, the world's largest diversified commodities trader, felt it had left "money on the table" with an offer price of 530 pence that valued the company at 36.7 billion pounds ($59.15 billion).

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(Reuters) - The tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, could cost insurers some $1 billion to $3 billion, according to catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT. The tornado, the deadliest single tornado in the United States since 1947, killed at least 116 people in Joplin earlier this week.

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(Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures bounced $2 on Tuesday on raised price outlooks from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and ahead of weekly oil inventory reports expected show crude stockpiles fell last week in the United States. A weaker dollar added support for dollar-denominated oil prices. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the July crude contract rose $1.90, or 1.9 percent, to $99.60 a barrel by 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT), trading from $96.61 to $99.82.

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(Reuters) - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is probing whether two major banks made proper representations to pension-fund clients about how their currency trades would be handled and priced, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Journal said the probe is examining the currency trading activities of the two of the world's largest custody banks, State Street Corp and Bank of New York Mellon, and whether the banks misrepresented how they intended to carry out the foreign exchange trades.

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