Valero Rallies As Stocks Finish Mostly Higher – Acadiana Business Index

Stocks finished mostly higher on Tuesday. Ken Meyers has your stock market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 72 points to 13,954 and the S&P 500 advanced 8 points to close at 1508. The NASDAQ fell less than a point to 3154 after being down by as many as 21 points in earlier action. The major averages rose as generally positive corporate earnings results offset a disappointing January consumer confidence report.
• Eight of the 10 sectors on the S&P ended higher. Energy was the best performing group with Valero rallying $4.97 to $43.78 on its quarterly results. Health care also outperformed with Eli Lilly gaining $1.68 to $54.32 following a better-than-expected fourth-quarter report. On the downside, Ford Motors gave up 64 cents to $13.14 as the company warned of a bigger-than-expected loss in its European operations. In other news, shares of Apple rose $8.44 to $458.27 after the company announced the release of a new iPad with more memory.
• Composite volume on the NYSE was 3.9 billion shares with advancing issues besting decliners by a 13-9 margin. The NASDAQ was 11-9 positive on issues.
• Turning to fixed income markets, Treasuries are lower along the curve. The benchmark 10-year note is down 9/32 to yield 2.00% and the 30-year bond is off 17/32 to yield 3.18%.

For the complete report, click Ken's Market Report.