NEW YORK — Some heartening news on home sales and earnings yesterday has let Wall Street set aside a little of its angst.

Major stock indexes jumped more than 1 percent yesterday, and the Dow Jones industrials rose more than 140 points to snap a three-day slide as some of the day's data turned out to be more upbeat than expected. Still, analysts cautioned that the economy will keep showing fresh bruises in the coming months and that stock trading will remain volatile.

Stocks also rose on the strength of some corporate earnings. Drugmakers Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. helped lift the market after their quarterly numbers came in better than expected. And shipper UPS Inc. rose on relief its quarterly results weren't worse.