Stocks bounce back as tech firms rise

NEW YORK » U.S. stocks bounced back to record highs Tuesday as investors put an end to a two-day drop for technology companies. Energy and consumer-focused companies also made outsize gains.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 10.96 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,440.35. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 92.80 points, or 0.4 percent, to 21,328.47.

The Nasdaq composite, which has a large concentration of technology companies, rose 44.90 points, or 0.7 percent, to 6,220.37, but did not get back to its record highs. The Russell 2000 index of smallercompany stocks added 6.77 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,425.98.

Technology companies led the way once again. Facebook rose $2.24, or 1.5 percent, to $150.68 while Microsoft gained 87 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $70.65. Hard drive maker Western Digital added $3.41, or 3.9 percent, to $90.05.

Amazon helped retailers trade higher. The online giant picked up $15.88, or 1.6 percent, to $980.79 and Best Buy rose $1.07, or 1.9 percent, to $57.85. Home Depot climbed $1.25, or 1.2 percent, to $153.99.

Among materials companies, Dow Chemical jumped $1.25, or 2 percent, to $65.26 and Sherwin-Williams gained $5.31, or 1.5 percent, to $353.25.

Energy companies joined the gains as the price of oil reversed an early loss. U.S. crude futures added 38 cents to settle at $46.46 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, picked up 43 cents to $48.72 a barrel in London.

Among energy stocks, Halliburton climbed 92 cents, or 2 percent, to $45.84 and oil refiner Tesoro rose $3.03, or 3.3 percent, to $94.22.

Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $1.50 a gallon. Heating oil finished up 2 cents at $1.45 a gallon. Natural gas slumped 6 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $2.97 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory said sales at established restaurants have fallen in the current quarter. Those sales, an important measure of how a retailer is doing, down about 1 percent, while FactSet says analysts expected growth of 1.7 percent. The stock lost $5.75, or 9.9 percent, to $52.58.

Verizon officially bought Yahoo’s internet business for $4.5 billion. That brought an end to Yahoo’s 21 years as a publicly traded company. Yahoo is being combined with AOL in a new Verizon unit called Oath, which is run by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. Verizon stock lost 73 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $46.46.

Bond prices edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dipped to 2.21 percent from 2.22 percent late Monday.

Gold slipped 30 cents to $1,268.60 an ounce. Silver fell 18 cents, or 1 percent, to $16.77 an ounce. Copper dipped 2 cents to $2.60 a pound.

The dollar rose to 109.96 yen from 109.79 yen. The euro inched up to $1.1212 from $1.1208.