The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91 points, or 0.7%, to 12539 in midday trading on Tuesday. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index climbed eight points, or 0.5%, to 1325, and the Nasdaq Composite added 12 points, or 0.4%, to 2848.
Materials and energy stocks led nine out of 10 S&P 500 sectors higher. Only utility stocks lost ground. Caterpillar, up 3.2%, and United Technologies, which rose 2.5%, were the Dow's biggest gainers.
Tuesday's updraft failed to boost Facebook, which fell 5.9% and hit a new post-offering low. The stock is now trading about 21% below its initial public offering price of $38 a share. Another social-media stock, Zynga, declined 7.4%.
Most European markets edged higher after Greek polls published over the weekend showed a pro-euro zone party leading an anti-bailout party ahead of next month's elections. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8%.
Spain's debt issues remained a source of investor anxiety. The Dow industrials gave back triple-digit gains shortly before noon after Egan-Jones cut Spain's credit rating.
The midday downgrade compounded concerns stoked concerns about the effective nationalization of one of Spain's largest banks, Bankia. Spain's IBEX 35 index slid 2.3%.
"Right now Spain is the No. 1 concern," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners. "You have to get used to these swings" in U.S. stocks, he said.
Data showed U.S. consumers were less confident in May that the previous month. The reading from the Conference Board has now fallen for three months in a row.
In other U.S. economic news, home prices fell in March, ending the first quarter at the lowest levels since the housing crisis began in mid-2006, according to Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home-price indexes. While the composite index fell, prices from 12 of 20 metropolitan areas rose from the previous month.
A reading on manufacturing activity in the Dallas region also missed expectations.
Asian markets were broadly higher. China's Shanghai Composite rallied 1.2%. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.7%.
Crude-oil futures rose 1.2% to $91.90 a barrel, while gold futures declined 0.5% to $1,561 a troy ounce. The U.S. dollar rose against the euro but fell versus the yen. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.720% as demand rose.
In corporate news, Vertex Pharmaceuticals slumped 15% after the company revised the success rate of clinical trial testing a cystic-fibrosis treatment. Initial results earlier this month exceeded expectations, boosting hopes that the treatment could have blockbuster potential.
LeCroy surged 55% after the maker of electronic signal-testing equipment agreed to be acquired by Teledyne Technologies in a cash deal valued at $291 million.
For the latest updates on the stock market, PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market Today For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
No comments:
Post a Comment