U.S. Stocks Advance a Fifth Day Amid Corporate Earnings

Story by Bloomberg
Written by Cecile Vannucci and Joseph Ciolli

U.S. stocks rose a fifth day, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) poised for its longest streak since October, amid signs of improving corporate earnings.

Newmont Mining Corp. advanced 6.2 percent as it discussed a possible merger with Barrick Gold Corp., people with the knowledge of the matter said. Halliburton Co. climbed 2.8 percent after forecasting profit growth for the second quarter. Athenahealth Inc. fell 5.3 percent after reporting quarterly earnings that missed projections.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to 1,867.75 at 12:35 p.m. in New York today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 22.99 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,431.53. Trading in S&P 500 stocks was 27 percent below the 30-day average at this time of day.

“The few earnings that we’ve had so far have been coming in pretty well,” John Fox, director of research at Fenimore Asset Management in Cobleskill, New York, said in a phone interview. “All the fundamentals still line up that stock prices can go higher. Interest rates are still low, the economy’s getting better. All of that is still a good environment for equities.”

The S&P 500 jumped 2.7 percent last week, the most since July to rebound from the previous week’s technology-led selloff, as corporate earnings from Morgan Stanley to Citigroup Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. surpassed estimates and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated the bank’s commitment to supporting the economy.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-21/u-s-index-futures-are-little-changed-after-s-p-500-jump.html