Strong earnings from Home Depot helped lift the Dow Jones industrial average Tuesday. A jump in home sales and consumer confidence also brought buyers back to the market after a big sell-off Monday.
Stocks advanced Thursday morning, pushing the Standard and Poor's 500 to another five-year high, after strong reports on housing starts and unemployment claims made investors more optimistic about the U.S. economy.
A weak showing in home sales and a mixed batch of earnings reports kept the stock market flipping between minor gains and losses on Wall Street. With an hour left in the trading day, the major market indexes were slightly up.
A rare double shot of good news about the U.S. economy sent stocks strongly higher Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 82 points despite lingering fear about Europe's debt turmoil.
Homebuilders led stocks up on Tuesday, helping major indexes recoup some losses from the day before. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. surged after the media conglomerate said it may split into two companies.
On a day that brought both good and bad news about the economy, investors chose to see the glass as half-full.
Stocks are bouncing between small gains and losses as investors weigh the prospects of a global economic slowdown even as several U.S. companies report strong earnings.
