NEW YORK: US stocks opened higher Tuesday on a series of healthy corporate earnings reports and echoing equity gains in Europe after a successful Spanish bond auction.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 122.91 points (0.95 percent) to 13,044.32 in the first five minutes of trade.
The broader S&P 500 advanced 10.03 (0.73 percent) to 1,379.60, while the Nasdaq rose 17.61 (0.59 percent) to 3,006.01.
"Individual earnings reports are supporting the overall stock market this morning after gains in the European stock markets. Spanish bond yields, which in our opinion are of murky impact, take a back seat today," said Dick Green at Briefing.com. Before the opening bell, better-than-expected earnings reports from major companies fueled the bullish sentiment, including from Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson.
The Commerce Department reported a fall in housing starts in March that was worse than expected, but building permits, a forward-looking indicator, increased at a surprisingly strong clip.
Stocks closed mixed Monday as technology stocks weighed on earlier gains and economic data was mixed.
The Dow rose 0.56 percent and the S&P was flat. The Nasdaq shed 0.76 percent as heavyweight Apple dropped for the fifth straight session.