Stocks: Dow jumps back above 17,000, Nasdaq surges
Stocks jumped Tuesday and the Dow closed back above 17,000 for the first time since October 3 after investors were encouraged by earnings gains and a rise in consumer confidence.
The Nasdaq, helped by speculation of a possible Apple partnership with Alibaba, led the major indexes higher. Investors were also focused on interest rates as the Fed began its two-day monetary policy meeting.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 187.81 points, or 1.1%, to 17,005.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 index jumped 23.42 points, or 1.2%, to 1985.05.
The Nasdaq composite surged 78.36 points, or 1.7%, to 4564.29. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have now erased all of October's losses and are in the black for the month.
Tech stocks got a boost from the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) as the company not only shook off its IPO malaise, but Tuesday became the latest stock to hit $100 a share.
Alibaba share jumped 1.9% to $99.68 after rising as high as $100.67 earlier on news the company that operates giant shopping sites in China might be working with Apple and its Apple Pay initiative. Apple (AAPL) gained 1.6% to $106.74 on the news.
Moving decisively in the other direction: Twitter. Shares of TWTR tumbled 9.8% to $43.78 after its earnings report late Monday failed to excite investors.
Drug giant Pfizer reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Shares of PFE rose 0.2% to $29.09.
In economic news:
• Consumer confidence rose sharply in October, reaching its highest level in seven years despite the volatile stock market and global economic weakness. Outlook rose to 94.5 from 89 in September, on the gauge used by the Conference Board.
• Home prices continued to rise more slowly in August, turning in their smallest year-over-year gains in nearly two years, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index of home prices. The report, out before the opening bell, shows home prices rose 5.6% from August 2013.
Overseas, Asian markets were mixed as Japan's Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.4% to 15,329.91. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shot up 1.6% to 23,520.36 and the Shanghai composite leaped 2.1% to 2337.87.
European benchmarks rose, with Germany's DAX soaring 1.9% to 9068.19 and Britain's FTSE index adding 0.6% to 6402.17.
Contributing: Paul Davidson, Doug Carroll.