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Stock indexes inch up toward 2-month highs
Dow industrials close above 9,000 as S&P and Nasdaq post even stronger results despite mixed economic reports.
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NEW YORK - Wall Street brushed off more bad economic news Tuesday to finish with a moderate advance that left broad stock indexes at their highest levels in two months.
Stocks gained after stumbling in the early going because of mixed readings on the service sector, factory orders and pending home sales. While investors expected the data to show further deterioration, they were hoping the pace of the declines would slow.
Stocks recovered in midafternoon trading after the Federal Reserve released minutes from its December meeting, giving insight into the central bank's historic decision to ratchet down its key interest rate to near zero to revive the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 62.21, or 0.69 percent, to 9,015.10.
Broader stock indicators showed steeper advances to end at their highest levels since Nov. 5. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.25, or 0.78 percent, to 934.70. The Nasdaq composite index advanced 24.35, or 1.50 percent, to 1,652.38, helped by an 18.6 percent jump in Ciena shares.
Wall Street has been showing some signs of stability since hitting multiyear lows on Nov. 20. The Dow is up 19.4 percent since then, while the S&P 500 index is up 24.2 percent.
The economic numbers are mostly still poor, but the stock market has recovered from past recessions before economic figures show improvement.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that pending home sales fell to the lowest level on record in November, while the Commerce Department said the drop in factory orders in November was nearly twice as steep as economists had expected. In one bright spot, the Institute for Supply Management said that its U.S. services-sector index rose to 40.6 in December from 37.3 in November. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson First Call expected the index to slip slightly to 37.
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