US stocks rise on housing data, earnings

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This Jan. 4, 2010, file photo shows an historic marker on Wall Street in New York. US stocks on Wednesday, April 22, 2015, posted solid gains following a big jump in US existing-home sales and a mixed bag of earnings reports from Boeing, McDonald’s and others. AP PHOTO/MARK LENNIHAN

EW YORK–US stocks on Wednesday posted solid gains following a big jump in US existing-home sales and a mixed bag of earnings reports from Boeing, McDonald’s and others.

The Dow Jones Industrial advanced 88.68 points (0.49 percent) to 18,038.27.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 10.67 (0.51 percent) to 2,107.96, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 21.07 (0.42 percent) at 5,035.17.

Total sales of used homes jumped 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.19 million units in March, the fastest pace in 18 months, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

Dow member Boeing fell 1.4 percent as analysts focused on rising costs for production of its 787 jets rather than a 38.9 percent jump in net income to $1.34 billion.

McDonald’s, another Dow component, tacked on 3.1 percent as it vowed to unveil a turnaround plan in two weeks following another round of dismal results. Net income in the first quarter plunged 32.6 percent to $812 million.

Dow member Coca-Cola rose 1.3 percent despite first-quarter earnings falling 3.8 percent to $1.56 billion due to the strong dollar. That translated into 48 cents per share, six cents above forecasts.

Of 103 companies in the S&P 500 to report so far, 78 have beaten analysts’ estimates, 15 have missed and 10 have come in at expectations, said S&P Capital IQ.

Other companies reporting earnings included Amgen (+0.4 percent), Chipotle Mexican Grill (-7.4 percent), EMC (+3.1 percent), Yahoo (+1.2 percent) and Yum Brands (+4.0 percent).

Google rose 1 percent as it launched its own US mobile wireless service. The service, named Project Fi, will use Wi-Fi hotspots along with the US mobile networks of Sprint and T-Mobile.

Sprint rose 2 percent, while T-Mobile US gained 2.2 percent.

Perrigo, which sells over-the-counter pharmaceutical products such as Sudafed and Claritin, rose 4.5 percent on reports that Mylan is planning to raise its bid after Perrigo rejected an initial offer of $28.9 billion. Mylan fell 2.3 percent.

Visa rose 4.1 percent and Mastercard advanced 3.9 percent on reports that China will open up its bank-card clearing to US firms.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.98 percent from 1.92 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.67 percent from 2.59 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

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