U.S. Stocks Finish Higher On Mostly Positive Data

U.S. stocks finished higher Tuesday after positive data on the U.S. housing sector and manufacturing gave traders a reason to be bullish. In afternoon trading, this renewed sense of confidence in America's economy pushed the S&P to within arm's reach of its recent record high.

Stocks were boosted out of the gate by a pre-bell February durable goods order report, and continued strength in the S&P/Case-Shiller housing index.

U.S. Durable Goods
February durable goods orders increased more than expected, generating a 5.7% reading, above the 4.6% gain that economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast. The gain was due primarily to an increase in orders in the transportation sector, particularly aircraft orders.

According to the Commerce Department, commercial aircraft orders surged 95.3% in February, after a 24% dip in January. Auto orders increased by 3.8%. Orders for capital goods declined 2.7%, their largest decrease since July. Capital goods orders are important because they give insight into private-sector business investment. Core capital goods shipments, which are used in quarterly economic growth calculations, added 1.9% during the month. Overall, by stripping out the volatile transportation sector, orders fell 0.5% during the month.

Case-Shiller
Adding more upside momentum to the market was the latest S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index. The index inched up a modest 0.1%. For the year, the index has tacked on 8.1%, its highest level since Sept. 2010.

In other housing news, new-home sales for the month slipped to 411,000 vs. an expected 420,000.

In commodities, May oil added $1.53, or 1.6%, in Tuesday's session to end at $96.34 a barrel. Its first close above $96 a barrel since Feb. 19. Gold futures ended lower for their third straight session. Gold lost $8.80, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,595.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Tuesday was the first day since March 15 that gold settled below the key $1600 per ounce price point.

Here's Where The Markets Stood At Day's End

• Dow Jones Industrial Average up 111.90 (+0.77%) to 14,559.65
• S&P 500 up 12.08 (+0.78%) to 1,563.77
• Nasdaq Composite Index up 17.18 (+0.53%) to 3,252.48

• Nikkei 225 Index down 0.59%
• Hang Seng Index down 0.27%
• Shanghai China Composite Index up 1.23%
• FTSE 100 Index up 0.28%
• DAX up 0.13%
• CAC 40 up 0.72%

• (+) SONC, Shares reach new 52-week highs after company reported late Monday Q2EPS of $0.05 per share ex items, vs. the analyst consensus of $0.05 per share on Capital IQ. Revenue was $115 mln, vs. expectations of $113 mln. For FY 2013, the company expects same store sales growth in the positive low single digit range.
• (+) BSFT, Stock rises after Raymond James upgraded the stock to Market Perform from Underperform, RTT News reports.
• (+) PTEK, Shares jump after company says it has renewed its contract with Carnival Corporation through December 2017.
• (+) BVX, Shares rally after the company said that it continues to receive increasing numbers of highly favorable responses and praise for its J-Plasma technology from leading surgeons and medical professionals.

• (-) HA, Airline's shares grounded after company announced that it has signed a definitive purchase agreement with Airbus to acquire 16 new A321neo aircraft between 2017 and 2020, with rights to purchase an additional nine aircraft. The airline recently resolved key labor agreements with its pilot and flight attendant unions.
• (-) ZIOP, Stock craters in the wake of the company's disappointing phase 3 trial results. Earlier, the company said its Phase 3 trial of palifosfamide (ZIO-201) for the treatment of metastatic soft tissue sarcoma in the first-line setting (PICASSO 3) did not meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS).
• (-) CLMT, Shares slip after company said it priced an underwritten public offering of 5,250,000 common units at $37.50 per unit. Calumet also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 787,500 additional common units.