Stocks rise 4th day in row

U.S. stocks shook off some midday doldrums Tuesday and rose for the fourth day in a row as strong results from Pepsi helped household goods companies. The market is at its highest level since February.

Shares of most kinds of large companies finished higher, with food and consumer products makers, energy companies and utilities making some of the biggest gains. Pepsi staged its biggest rally in almost nine years. Oil prices rose.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is at its highest point since Feb. 1 and has climbed seven times in the last eight days even though the United States and China are now in open conflict over trade. Wall Street has focused instead on the strong jobs report for June and on company earnings reports.

Invesco Chief Global Market Strategist Kristina Hooper said investors are taking a risk by overlooking how damaging the trade war might get.

The S&P 500 rose 9.67 points, or 0.3%, to 2,793.84. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 143.07 points, or 0.6%, to 24,919.66. The Nasdaq composite rose 3 points, or less than 0.1%, to 7,759.20. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 8.99 points, or 0.5%, to 1,695.62, erasing some of its gains from the previous five days.

Major U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, will announce their earnings results Friday morning, and most of the companies in the S&P 500 will report their results in the weeks after that.

Pepsi’s beverage sales are still struggling as the company tries to adjust to Americans’ changing drinking habits, but analysts were pleased with its results in other markets, and its earnings beat expectations. The stock rose 4.8% to $112.89.

Lowe’s climbed 2.1% to $99.01 as a shakeup at the home improvement chain continued: The company said its chief operating officer and several other executives are leaving.

J.M. Smucker fell 1.6% to $109.14 after it said it will sell its U.S. baking business, including Pillsbury. Brynwood Partners will buy the division for $375 million.

Financial companies have fared far worse than the rest of the market this year; that continued Tuesday.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10year Treasury note held steady at 2.86%.

Utilities and phone companies recovered some of Monday’s losses.

U.S. crude oil rose 0.4% to $74.11 a barrel. Brent crude climbed 1% to $78.86 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline rose 0.5% to $2.16 a gallon. Heating oil rose 1.2% to $2.22 a gallon. Natural gas fell 1.4% to $2.79 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell 0.3% to $1,255.40 an ounce. Silver fell 0.3% to $16.09 an ounce. Copper fell 0.4% to $2.84 a pound.

The dollar rose to 111.28 yen from 110.82 yen. The euro fell to $1.1745 from $1.1749.