Stocks Rise Day After Stumble
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are rising Tuesday as energy companies climb with oil prices and banks move up along with interest rates. The market was recovering some of its losses from a day ago. Other sectors including health care and industrials are also bouncing back. Technology stocks are mostly higher, but Facebook continues to slump following a report the Federal Trade Commission will investigate its handling of user data and Oracle is plunging after releasing disappointing results and forecasts.
KEEPING SCORE: After a drop of 1.4 percent Monday, the S&P 500 index added 7 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,719 as of 10 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 113 points, or 0.4 percent, to 24,724. The Nasdaq composite rose 24 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,368. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked 4 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,573.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.14, or 1.8 percent, to $63.20 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained $1.18, or 1.8 percent, to $67.23 per barrel in London.
Among energy companies, Chevron gained $1.06 to $114.95 and Halliburton added 58 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $45.26.
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FED AHEAD: The Federal Reserve's leaders began a two-day policy meeting that is expected to result in another interest rate increase on Wednesday. The Fed has said it expects to raise interest rates a total of three times this year, and one of the key debates on Wall Street is whether it will wind up increasing rates three times or four. The current meeting is the Fed's first since Jerome Powell became chairman, and investors will be watching his comments at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.88 percent from 2.85 percent. That sent interest rates higher, which allows banks to charge more money on loans.
Lincoln National advanced 91 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $76.71. Insurer AIG climbed 64 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $55.09 and Aflac picked up 60 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $45.30.
TECH REBOUNDS: Technology companies recovered some of the ground they lost Monday. Those stocks have done far better than the rest of the market since the beginning of 2017, and investors pulled away from the sector one day ago as Facebook and Google's parent company Alphabet took steep losses. The sector regained some of those losses on Tuesday.
Microsoft gained 81 cents to $93.70 and Adobe Systems rose $6.50, or 2.9 percent, to $228.68. Over the last 12 months, the S&P 500 technology index is up 32 percent while the S&P 500 itself is up almost 15 percent.
BUT NOT FACEBOOK: Facebook continued to skid as investors tried to assess the fallout from reports that Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm working for President Donald Trump's campaign, improperly obtained data on 50 million Facebook users without their permission. Bloomberg News reported that the Federal Trade Commission will investigate Facebook's handling of user data and whether it violated the terms of a 2011 agreement with the agency. Britain's information commissioner said she will seek a warrant to access Cambridge Analytica's servers.
Facebook stock lost $2.59, or 1.5 percent, to $169.98. It fell almost 7 percent Monday, its worst loss in four years, and early Tuesday it touched its lowest price since late September. Alphabet, which fell 3 percent Monday, edged up $4.45 to $1,104.52.
CLOUDY VISIONS: Investors were disappointed with Oracle's third-quarter report. While the company announced a bigger profit than analysts expected, they were less impressed once items like lower tax rates and stock repurchases were excluded, and its sales were lower than Wall Street had forecast. The company's forecast for the fourth quarter also came up short of estimates. The stock dropped $4.67, or 9 percent, to $47.28.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 106.47 yen from 105.97 yen. The euro fell to $1.2269 from $1.2357.
OVERSEAS: France's CAC 40 gained 0.1 percent and Germany's DAX added 0.2 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 was 0.4 percent higher. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.5 percent while South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.4 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched up 0.1 percent.
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