Wall Street Modestly Higher, Helped by Earnings Data

The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index hit an intraday record high on Tuesday before slipping in a tight-range session, while the Dow Jones industrials got a lift from upbeat earnings.

The S. P. biotech subindex fell 1.6 percent a day after hitting a record high. The S. P. health care index slipped 0.3 percent and ranked among the worst performers of the 10 industrial sectors in the index.

Shares of United Technologies, the world’s largest maker of elevators and air conditioners, hit a record high of $105.58 and led the Dow’s advance after the company raised the low end of its 2013 earnings forecast. The stock was up 3.4 percent.

The Dow also reached an intraday record high shortly after the opening bell, within a few minutes of the SP 500’s jump to its record intraday high.

In afternoon trading the indexes were off their highs. The S. P. was 0.1 percent lower, at 1,694.69 points, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.3 percent to 15,590.89 and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.3 percent.

If the S. P. ends Tuesday’s session with a decline, that would be only the second down day in the last 14 for the benchmark index. The SP 500 has gained about 19 percent for the year.

“Valuations are decent, there’s positive monetary pressure, earnings are just O.K.” said John Manley, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in New York. “It’s hard to get people excited but the market keeps grinding higher.”

“It will be slow over the summer, but the market will have an upward bias,” he said.

Asian markets rose after local media outlets in China reported that the government was looking to increase investment in railroad projects to reduce gluts in steel, cement and other materials as it aimed to ensure annual economic growth did not sink below 7 percent.

The reports lifted stocks across Asia outside Japan by 1.3 percent, to their highest levels since early June. They also gave an early increase to mining stocks in London, although a lack of detail made some in the markets cautious.

A flurry of merger and acquisition activity and a sharp rally in telecommunications shares added to gains across Europe in morning trade, but by the end of the session, the FTSEurofirst 300 index was 0.2 percent lower.

Among declining shares in the United States, the online-entertainment company Netflix fell 4.8 percent, a day after it reported that its show “Arrested Development” had lured new subscribers in the second quarter — but not enough to impress investors.

United Parcel Service posted a smaller quarterly profit as customers chose slower, cheaper shipping services, especially on international routes. Its shares were 0.1 percent lower.

Gold took a breather after its biggest one-day gain in more than a year. It was down 0.4 percent, at $1,331.20 an ounce, but it has recovered more than $150 from a three-year low of $1,180.71 an ounce hit on June 28.

Benchmark crude oil in the United States gained 27 cents, to $107.21 a barrel. Investors are awaiting United States crude inventory data for further clues about the outlook for demand.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss