Deal news helps offset early losses
NEW YORK - A late push gave stock indexes moderate gains Tuesday as investors brushed off news that consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since February.
NEW YORK - A late push gave stock indexes moderate gains Tuesday as investors brushed off news that consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since February.
A big jump in earnings from Walgreen Co. and another corporate acquisition gave investors enough confidence to extend a four-week rally.
With only two trading days left in September, the Dow Jones industrial average is on track for its best September since 1939 with a gain of 8.4 percent in the month so far. It's still up only 4.1 percent for the year.
Stocks got off to a bad start after the Conference Board said its September reading on consumer confidence fell sharply from August and came in well below forecasts. Mostly positive readings from economic data on manufacturing, home sales, and jobs have helped push stocks higher this month after a dismal performance on August.
Scott Rostan, founder of Training The Street, which provides courses in financial modeling and corporate valuation, said the small move in stocks compared with the big decline in confidence revealed a schism between consumers and traders.
Traders are more focused on sentiment and confidence among corporate executives than consumers, he said.
Drug developer Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings, of Chadds Ford, said Tuesday it would buy Qualitest Pharmaceuticals for $1.2 billion. A day earlier, major companies including Unilever NV and Southwest Airlines Co. had announced deals.
In other corporate news, Walgreen Co. soared 11.4 percent after the drugstore chain reported income that easily beat forecasts.
Technology stocks were being dragged down on disappointment that Research in Motion Ltd. said it would not roll out its competitor to Apple Inc.'s iPad, called the PlayBook, until the beginning of 2011.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 46.10, or 0.4 percent, to 10,858.14. It's up 8.4 percent so far in September, and extraordinary showing for a month that is historically a weak one for the market.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.54, or 0.5 percent, to 1,147.70, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 9.82, or 0.4 percent, to 2,379.59.
Apple shares fell $4.30 to $286.86 on heavy volume. Its price plummeted $16.77, or 5.7 percent, in the first three minutes of trading before quickly recovering most of those losses.
Endo Pharmaceuticals shares rose $2.49, or 8.1 percent, to $33.10. Research in Motion shares fell $1.45, or 3 percent, to $46.91. Walgreen rose $3.46 to $33.81.
AOL Inc. closed up 63 cents at $24.15. The Web company is buying technology blog TechCrunch and other blogs in its network in a bid to expand its news production.
Rising stocks outpaced falling ones two to one on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1 billion shares.
