S&P 500 keeps up recent momentum
NEW YORK - Stocks edged higher Tuesday as more companies reported first-quarter earnings.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 10 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,881 as of 11:28 a.m. (1528 GMT). The Dow Jones industrial average gained 89 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,538. The Nasdaq composite rose 38 points to 4,160.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year note climbed to 2.74 percent from 2.72 percent on Monday. The price of oil fell $1.79, or 1.7 percent, to $101.88 a barrel.
The S&P 500 closed higher on Monday for a fifth straight day, its longest streak of gains since October. The index has staged a comeback after slumping at the start of the month as investors sold high-flying tech and biotechnology stocks. If the index ends higher Tuesday it will be the longest streak of gains since September.
The market's gains over the past week have been driven by a combination of factors, said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors. "We were definitely oversold, there's no question about that," Orlando said. "Earnings, by and large, haven't been worse than we thought and the economic news has actually been a little better."
Netflix rose $20.41, or 5.9 percent, to $369.25 trading after the online video streaming service said its first-quarter earnings soared. Another season of the popular political drama "House of Cards" helped attract an additional 2.25 million subscribers.
Harley-Davidson jumped $5.18, or 7.7 percent, to $72.75 after the company reported that its first-quarter earnings rose almost 19 percent from the same period a year ago. The Milwaukee company said motorcycle sales grew 5.8 percent worldwide and efficiency efforts took hold during the quarter. Its earnings topped Wall Street estimates.
Overall, first-quarter earnings at S&P 500 companies are expected to decline 1.1 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, according to S&P Capital IQ data. That would be the first decline in earnings since the third quarter of 2009.