US stocks bounce back after last week's losses

NEW YORK: US stocks moved higher Monday amid mixed earnings reports, bouncing back after last week's losses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 19.66 (0.14 percent) to 14,567.17.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 7.25 (0.47 percent) to 1,562.50, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 27.50 (0.86 percent) to 3,233.55.

Some analysts said stocks were poised to rally after the major indexes last week lost more than 2 percent amid mediocre corporate earnings.

Monday's gains came despite a 0.6 percent drop in US existing-home sales from February to March; at the same time, the national median price jumped $11,100 from the prior month.

Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar added 2.8 percent despite reporting earnings 45.4 percent lower than the year-earlier period and slashing its profit forecast on a weak outlook for the global mining sector.

Oil services giant Halliburton added 5.6 percent after reporting better-than-expected revenues and profits, though setting aside some $637 million for costs related to the BP-Deepwater Horizon spill meant it turned in a net loss for the quarter of $18 million.

Microsoft jumped 3.7 percent after activist hedge fund ValueAct said it took a $2 billion stake in the technology giant.

Power-One, which manufactures power supply products for renewable energy and telecommunications systems, was up 56.7 percent after announcing it was being acquired by Swiss energy giant ABB for $1 billion.

General Electric, which retreated Friday on disappointing earnings, slipped 1.8 percent after JPMorgan Chase downgraded the company.

IBM, another earnings laggard, slipped 1.1 percent.

Netflix gained 6.7 percent in anticipation of quarterly earnings, and the shares gained another 19.1 percent in after-hours trade once the company reported it added more than 3 million subscribers to its streaming service.

Markets were also gearing up for Apple's earnings report Tuesday. The technology giant, which fell more than 9 percent last week, jumped 2.1 percent.

Bond prices were unchanged. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held flat at 1.70 percent, the same level as Friday. The 30-year Treasury also remained at 2.88 percent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.

<Center><b><i>Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2013</b></i></center>