Stocks Rise as Profits, Confidence Index Climb

Strong corporate earnings pushed up stocks across industries on Tuesday, with the energy sector and small companies leading the gains.

Stocks rose from the opening of trading, then built on the momentum as investors sifted through mostly encouraging quarterly results. Whirlpool, AutoNation and engine-maker Cummins all jumped 7 percent after reporting their earnings.

With Tuesday’s gain, the market has recovered almost all of the ground that it lost in a four-week slide through Oct. 15 that nearly drove the Standard & Poor’s 500 into a “correction,” defined as a drop of 10 percent or more from a recent high.

“Here we are just two weeks later, and we’ve just about gained it back,” said Scott Wren, a stock strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors. “We think it’s still going up.”

Investors were also cheered by news that a key gauge of U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in October. The Conference Board reported that its confidence index hit a seven-year high as solid job gains raised expectations for economic growth, an encouraging sign for retailers as they head into the holiday shopping season.

“We’re predicting [end of year] is going to be very strong,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investments. “Stocks are cheap right now.”

The S&P 500 rose 23.42 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,985.05. That puts it another strong day from its record high close of 2,011.36 on Sept. 18.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 187.81 points, or 1.1 percent, to 17,005.75. The Nasdaq composite climbed 78.36 points, or 1.8 percent, to 4,564.29.

The biggest gain was in the Russell 2000, a small stock index. It jumped 2.9 percent.

Homebuilders rose following news that U.S. home prices grew in August, albeit at a more modest pace. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5.6 percent in August from 12 months earlier. Home prices were rising at a double-digit rate as recently as last fall. Meritage Homes rose 84 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $38.60.

Investors are now looking ahead to Wednesday’s announcement from the Federal Reserve’s policymaking committee for insight into when the central bank might start raising interest rates. The Fed is winding down its $4 trillion bond-buying program, which is known as quantitative easing. There is concern about whether the U.S. economy is strong enough to sustain growth without that support.

Among other stocks making big moves Tuesday:

• Amgen rose 6 percent after it announced plans to cut more jobs, buy back $2 billion worth of stock and raise its dividend by 30 percent. 

The price of oil rose as rising consumer confidence led investors to anticipate greater demand for energy.

U.S. crude rose 42 cents to $81.42 a barrel in New York. That helped push up energy stocks 2.3 percent, the biggest gain among the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500. Crude has dropped sharply since June, when it went as high as $107 a barrel.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 20 cents to close at $86.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the NYMEX, wholesale gasoline rose 2.6 cents to close at $2.196 a gallon, heating oil rose 1.8 cents to close at $2.493 a gallon and natural gas rose 8.8 cents to close at $3.649 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In bond trading, the price of the 10-year Treasury note fell slightly. The yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 2.29 percent from 2.26 percent late Monday.

The price of gold edged up 10 cents to $1,229.40 an ounce, silver rose six cents to $17.23 an ounce and copper rose three cents to $3.09 a pound.

This article appeared in print on page 40 of the October 29th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.