NEW YORK (AFP) - US shares got a solid boost on Tuesday from an upturn in Chinese inflation and a possible deal on the next stage of Greece's bailout to avert a looming crisis.

Markets also got a boost from a rebound in commodities led by oil prices.

Banks, industrial firms like Caterpillar and Boeing and other blue-chips led the rally, while Amazon was the best gainer among large-cap stocks after it laid out a challenge to Google-owned YouTube with its own streaming of member-generated content.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.3 per cent to 17,928.35.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.3 per cent to 2,084.39, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite also gained 1.3 per cent, to 4,809.88.

"That strong dollar-weak oil situation has been eliminated," said Art Hogan at Wunderlich Securities.

"It's a risk-on day; underperformers are doing better. It's a very good transition," Hogan said.

Fashion group Gap fell 11.5 per cent after a disappointing first-quarter sales figure of US$3.44 billion pointed to its continuing struggle to deal with a sharply shifting market for young people's clothing in its main Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy chains.

Drugmaker Allergan rose 5.3 per cent after its board authorized up to US$10 billion in share repurchases, including US$4-5 billion over the next four to six months.

Medivation, the San Francisco biotech company developing cancer therapies, fell 0.9 per cent after it said it was giving Pfizer and Amgen access to its books to support possible takeover bids.