U.S. stocks extend gains with focus on earnings

Major U.S. stock indexes closed mostly higher, led by health care, retailers and banks.

Major U.S. stock indexes closed mostly higher Tuesday, led by health care companies, retailers and banks.

The modest gains nudged the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to all-time highs for the second straight day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished essentially flat.

Investors weighed another batch of mostly solid company earnings reports. Sprint soared after a federal judge cleared a major obstacle to the company being acquired by T-Mobile. Microsoft and Facebook slumped after federal regulators announced they’ve ramped up an antitrust probe into the two companies as well as Amazon, Apple and Google parent Alphabet.

Cruise operators, hotels and other companies that focus on travel made solid gains, the latest sign that traders are feeling less worried about the economic impact from the virus outbreak that began in China.

“Stocks are collectively saying, ‘hey, maybe we can work past some of the noise with the virus; maybe the fallout won’t be as big as we thought,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird.

“And the U.S. economy, so far at least, looks like it’s weathering it pretty well.”

The S&P 500 index rose 5.66 points, or 0.2%, to 3,357.75. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.48 points, or less than 0.1%, to 29,276.34. It had been up 0.5%.

The Nasdaq composite gained 10.55 points, or 0.1%, to 9,638.94. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks picked up 9.85 points, or 0.6%, to 1,677.51.

Markets in Europe and Asia rose.

Bond prices fell, sending bond yields higher. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.60% from 1.54% late Monday.

After a downbeat January, U.S. stocks have been mostly notching gains this month as traders brush off fears about the virus outbreak and its impact on businesses and the global economy. Beijing has promised to take measures to soften the blow to China’s economy and investors are hopeful that other governments will do the same if necessary.

China remained mostly closed for business Tuesday as the daily death toll from a new virus topped 100 for the first time, pushing the total deaths above 1,000. The outbreak has infected more than 43,000 people globally, though most of the cases and deaths are in China.

Travel-related stocks, which have been hammered by traders in recent weeks, notched gains Tuesday. Hilton Worldwide rose 1.4%, Carnival climbed 2.8% and American Airlines gained 3.6%.

Wall Street got some encouragement Tuesday from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. In his semiannual monetary report to Congress, Powell said it was too early to assess the threat the virus poses to the U.S. economy, but he noted that the economy “is in a very good place” with strong job creation and moderate growth.

Traders welcomed a federal judge’s decision to reject claims by a group of states arguing T-Mobile’s proposed $26.5 billion buyout of rival Sprint would mean less competition and higher phone bills. Shares in Sprint surged 77.5%, while T-Mobile jumped 11.8%.

Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it has ordered Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google’s parent Alphabet to turn over detailed information on their acquisitions going back to 2010 as part of an investigation into the five giant tech companies’ market dominance.

The FTC, the Justice Department and a House committee have been investigating the conduct of big tech companies and whether they aggressively bought potential rivals to suppress competition.