Stocks rally as tech firms and home builders climb
U.S. stocks made their biggest gain since March on Tuesday as technology companies erased their losses from earlier this year.
Home builders also climbed after the government said sales of new homes reached an eightyear high last month. That was a sign that the housing market and the broader economy are still in pretty good shape.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 213.12 points, or 1.2%, to 17,706.05. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 28.02 points, or 1.4%, to 2,076.06. The Nasdaq composite index surged 95.27 points, or 2%, to 4,861.06.
Stocks have alternated between gains and losses in recent days after a fourweek string of losses.
Tech stocks helped steer the market higher. Apple picked up $1.47, or 1.5%, to $97.90, and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, added $15.78, or 2.2%, to $733.03. Microsoft rose $1.56, or 3.1%, to $51.59.
Home-building stocks jumped after the Commerce Department said sales of new homes reached their highest level since January 2008. Sales of both newly built and previously occupied homes grew as job gains and low mortgage rates encouraged Americans to keep buying homes.
Toll Bros. also reported better first-quarter results than analysts expected and the company raised its annual projections for home prices and sales. The stock gained $2.36, or 8.7%, to $29.46.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 1.86% from 1.84%. When interest rates go up, as they have been doing recently, banks can make more money from lending. JPMorgan Chase climbed $1.08, or 1.7%, to $64.54, and Bank of America gained 21 cents, or 1.6%, to $14.68.
Streaming video company Netflix jumped after it said it struck deal with Disney. Starting in September, Netflix will have exclusive U.S. rights to new movies from Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar. Netflix stock jumped $3, or 3.2%, to $97.89.
Oil is trading at its highest price since early October, and benchmark U.S. crude picked up 54 cents, or 1.1%, to $48.62 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 26 cents, or 0.5%, to $48.61 a barrel in London.
Retailers continued to struggle. Electronics chain Best Buy said its quarterly sales kept falling and its outlook was weak. Its stock lost $2.45, or 7.4%, to $30.55.
Athletic apparel maker Under Armour rose after it announced a deal with UCLA worth $280 million over 15 years. The stock jumped 95 cents, or 2.5%, to $38.22.
France’s CAC 40 added 2.5%, while Germany’s DAX gained 2.2%. In Britain, the FTSE 100 rose 1.3%. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.9%, as the yen continued to strengthen, hurting Japanese exporters. South Korea’s Kospi edged down 0.9%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1%.
Gold dropped $22.30, or 1.8%, to $1,229.20 an ounce. Silver slid 17 cents, or 1%, to $16.25 an ounce. Copper was unchanged at $2.07 a pound.
The dollar rose to 109.98 yen from 109.19 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1143 from $1.1221.