NEW YORK — Strong profits from major retailers and an upgrade to Hewlett-Packard helped push stocks higher on Tuesday. Sears Holdings Corp. and Tiffany & Co. raised their earnings forecasts. Sears said it could earn twice as much as analysts had predicted this year. Tiffany said brisk holiday sales would push earnings higher.

“Consumer stocks have been left for dead,” said Matt Lloyd, the chief investment strategist at Advisors Asset Management. Consumer companies cut so many costs during the recession that any slight bump in spending “has a much bigger effect on margins,” he said.