US stocks rise on housing report, earnings

US stocks on Tuesday finished higher following a busy day of corporate earnings and a report showing the highest level of existing-home sales in eight months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 61.81 points (0.36 per cent) to 17,113.54 points. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 9.90 (0.50 per cent) to 1,983.53, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 31.31 (0.71 per cent) to 4,456.02. A flood of earnings reports produced some mixed results, but analysts said the overall picture was positive. A note from Wells Fargo Advisors said the results to date, accounting for 17 per cent of the S&P 500 companies, were ‘heartening.’ Brent Schutte, market strategist at BMO Global Asset Management, said earnings were ‘pretty solid’ on the whole. Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said sales of US existing homes in June rose 2.6 per cent to an annual rate of 5.04 million in June, the highest pace since October 2013, according to AFP.