InvestSMART

Wall Street gains on data, earnings

Strong US home prices data, decent earnings provide investor boost.
By · 31 Jul 2013
By ·
31 Jul 2013
comments Comments
Upsell Banner

United States stocks closed mostly higher in the wake of a solid report on home prices and decent earnings results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat, down 1.38 points, or 0.01%, to 15,520.59 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 inched up 0.63 points, or 0.04%, at 1,685.96 points.

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index increased 17.33 points, or 0.48%, to 3,616.47 points.

Stocks had retreated on Monday ahead of a busy week of economic news, including a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting that opens on Tuesday and the monthly jobs report on Friday.

Investors were especially cautious in the latest session, hesitant to make any major moves before the outcome of the two-day Fed policy meeting.

Tuesday's trading came after the S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices showed prices in the 20 largest US cities increased 2.4% in May compared with April, and were up a better-than-expected 12.2% from May 2012.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and a number of smaller companies also reported earnings, with most of the bigger companies meeting or exceeding profit expectations.

Share this article and show your support
Free Membership
Free Membership
AAP with staff reporter
AAP with staff reporter
Keep on reading more articles from AAP with staff reporter. See more articles
Join the conversation
Join the conversation...
There are comments posted so far. Join the conversation, please login or Sign up.