US stocks up 2nd day in a row

NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly higher Tuesday as the market notched its second sizable gain in a row. Retail and industrial stocks made the biggest gains as they were lifted by company earnings, some good news from China’s economy and hope that Japan’s struggling economy will get another boost.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 222.57 points, or 1.4 percent, to 16,196.41. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 30.80 points, or 1.7 percent, to 1,895.58. The Nasdaq composite climbed 98.44 points, or 2.3 percent, to 4,435.96.

The S&P 500 had climbed 2 percent Friday. It had been two months since the S&P 500 rose at least 1 percent for two consecutive days. The U.S. market was closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

Amazon rose $14.02, or 2.8 percent, to $521.10. The Home Depot rose $3.11, or 2.7 percent, to $119.43 and competitor Lowe’s gained $2.56, or 3.9 percent, to $67.43.

Hormel, the maker of Spam and Dinty Moore stew among other foods, had its best day in almost seven years after the company posted a strongerthan- quarterly profit and raised its forecast for the year. Its stock climbed $2.94, or 7.1 percent, to $44.44. It’s up 60 percent over the last year.

Despite some positive forecasts, it’s been a bad couple of weeks for company earnings. Threefourths of the companies listed on the S&P 500 have reported their quarterly results, and earnings are expected to fall almost 5 percent compared with a year ago, according to S&P Capital IQ. That’s mostly because of plunging oil prices, which are pummeling energy company profits.