U.S. stocks end higher, Dow seeing 7th straight gain

U.S. stocks ended higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average seeing gains for the seventh day in a row, as investors shrugged off the interest rate hike in China and were encouraged by positive earnings.


The Dow rose 71.52 points, or 0.59 percent, to 12,233.15, making its longest series of gains since July.


McDonald's Corp. was the biggest gainer of the 30 components in the Dow, rising 2.6 percent after reporting January sales that were higher than analysts expected. Another major boosting component American Express rose 2.37 percent.


The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 5.52 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,324.57 and the Nasdaq was up 13.06 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,797.05.


Among the key S&P 500 sectors, consumer discretionary and financials were higher, while energy and utilities slipped.


China's central bank said it would raise interest rates for the third time since last October to address the high inflation. This news pressured the stocks at the beginning, but faded out quickly as the market sentiment was boosted by series of positive earnings.


In the day's earnings news, the world's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 47.6 percent drop in quarterly profit, hit by slumping Japanese car sales and a strong yen, but raised its full-year profit forecast to 490 billion yen, leading its share to a gain of 4.04 percent. And a U.S. official investigation report said on Tuesday, unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles was rooted in mechanical flaws rather than electronic defects, which also bolstered the confidence in the automaker's share.
ArcelorMittal rose more than 4.16 percent even after the world' s largest steel maker reported a quarterly loss, but expected 2011 to be better than 2010.


Swiss bank UBS said it expects to win back more business from clients in 2011, sending its share to surge 3.75 percent.


Walt Disney Co., the world's biggest media company, reported earnings after the closing bell, saying first-quarter profit rose 54 percent after an increase in attendance at its theme parks and advertising sales growth at the ESPN sports channel. The shares rose 3.3 percent in extended trading to 42.55 dollars.


In the other markets, New York crude benchmark fell below the technical support point of 87 dollars a barrel after a fluctuated trading session, gold prices jumped 1 percent to a session high of 1,365 dollars an ounce.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)