Broad Rally Pulling Stocks Higher

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are climbing Tuesday and building on their gains from late last week. Strong quarterly reports are boosting companies including Hormel Foods and Restaurant Brands International, and retailers are also rising. Home security company ADT is surging after it agreed to be bought by an investment company.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 161 points, or 1 percent, to 16,134 as of 12:40 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 23 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,887. The Nasdaq composite climbed 75 points, or 1.7 percent, to 4,412.

The S&P 500 rose almost 2 percent Friday, its best day in two weeks. U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

LOCKED UP: Home security services company ADT surged after it accepted an offer from investment company Apollo Global Management worth $42 per share, or $6.94 billion. Its stock rose $13.20, or 49.1 percent, to $40.07. Apollo Global added 58 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $13.98.

GOOD EATS: Hormel Foods, the maker of Spam and Dinty Moore stew, posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its forecast for the year. The stock climbed $2.71, or 6.5 percent, to $44.21 and is up 59 percent over the last year.

GROUPON ROCKETS: Daily deals site Groupon gained $1.20, or 41.3 percent, to $4.09 after Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba disclosed it had taken a 5.6-percent stake in the company. Groupon stock jumped 29 percent Friday after the company reported its fourth-quarter results, but the stock is still in a big slump over the last year.

CHOW DOWN: Restaurant Brands, the parent company of Burger King and Tim Hortons, jumped $1.66, or 5.2 percent, to $33.67 after the company said an important sales measurement rose at both of its chains in the fourth quarter.

HOSPITALS TAKE ILL: Hospital stocks tumbled after Community Health Systems said admissions decreased in the fourth quarter. That's partly because it had more patients last year with respiratory illnesses and the flu. The company took a loss as it absorbed impairment charges and set aside more money to cover unpaid bills.

The stock plunged $5.16, or 27.6 percent, to $13.52 while competitor Tenet Healthcare sank 7 percent and LifePoint Hospitals fell 8 percent. HCA Holdings, the largest publicly traded hospital chain in the U.S., lost $1.01, or 1.5 percent, to $65.

RETAILERS RISE: E-commerce giant Amazon added $7.16, or 1.4 percent, to $514.24. Home improvement retailer Home Depot rose $3.11, or 2.7 percent, to $119.43 and Lowe's gained $2.39, or 3.7 percent, to $67.26.

POWERING UP: Industrial stocks also rose, helped by ADT's big gain. Elsewhere, General Electric picked up 63 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $28.89 and Boeing added 3.25, or 3 percent, to $111.88.

CHINA CURRENCY: The yuan was near its highest level in 2016 after China's central bank guided the currency higher. That's a sign a positive sign for the economy. Weakness in the yuan this year has caused investors to worry that the Chinese economy is in worse shape than they had thought.

New yuan loans also jumped 71 percent in January, according to Xinhua, China's official news agency. That suggests demand is strong.

STIMULUS HOPES: Japan's economy contracted 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter, a worse result than expected. That shows that lavish stimulus policies didn't counteract weak consumer demand and exports, but investors hope that means Japan's central bank will take further steps to stimulate the economy.

Japan's Nikkei added 0.2 percent after soaring 7.2 percent the day before, its biggest daily gain since September. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.1 percent.

EUROPE STOCKS: Stocks in Europe mostly fell. Germany's DAX lost 0.8 percent and France's CAC 40 slipped 0.1 percent. However Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent.

OIL TALK: The price of U.S. oil retreated after a big gain Friday. While Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to freeze their oil output Tuesday, that deal won't take effect unless other OPEC nations also agree to it. Analysts say Iran probably won't do to that because it wants to ramp up production following its period of sanctions. Benchmark U.S. crude lost 34 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $29.10 a barrel in New York. It jumped 12 percent Friday, its biggest gain in years.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, gave up 87 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $32.52 a barrel in London. The price of Brent was little changed on Monday.

Other energy prices also skidded, with the cost of wholesale gasoline down 5 percent, heating oil down 2 percent, and natural gas almost 4 percent lower.

BONDS, CURRENCIES: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.78 percent from 1.75 percent Friday. The dollar rose to 113.85 yen from 113.26 yen late Friday. The euro slipped to $1.115 from $1.126 on Friday.

(KA)