Strong US earnings lift Wall Street mood
new york — US stocks moved higher in early trading on Tuesday as investors welcomed solid results from homebuilders, retailers and other companies.
Technology stocks also rose, rebounding from a slide a day earlier. Energy companies were climbing along with the price of US crude oil.
The S&P 500 index rose 10 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,867 as of 10:14am ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 78 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 25,836. The Nasdaq composite rose 43 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 7,864. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 10 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 1,709. In Europe, Germany’s DAX added 1.7 per cent, while France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.9 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose nearly 0.1 per cent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost nearly 1 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.6 per cent. Shares were higher in Taiwan but fell in Singapore.
Toll Brothers jumped 11.3 per cent to $38.66 after the luxury homebuilder reported earnings that came in well ahead of what analysts were expecting.
TJX climbed 4.2 per cent to $105.93 after the operator of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and other discount retail chains reported quarterly earnings that topped Wall Street’s forecasts.
Medtronic gained 4 per cent to $94 after the medical technology company’s latest quarterly report card beat Wall Street’s projections. Discount brokers ETrade and Charles Schwab were down sharply following a report that JPMorgan Chase will offer free online trading. ETrade slid 4 per cent to $58.81, while Schwab lost 3.2 per cent to $49.78.
J.M. Smucker slid 3.9 per cent to $111.31 after the maker of Jif peanut butter, Crisco cooking oil and other products reported quarterly results that fell short of analysts’ estimates. The company also trimmed its outlook for the year.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.85 percent from 2.82 percent late Monday. The dollar fell to ¥110.40 from ¥110.23 late on Monday. The euro strengthened to $1.1527 from $1.1467.