U.S. Stocks Gain Amid Rising Factory Data, Corporate Earnings

Bloomberg (02/11) -- U.S. stocks rose, halting the first two-day drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in three weeks, as investors assessed factory data and earnings for clues on when the Federal Reserve may trim stimulus.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.3 percent to 1,761.92 at 4 p.m. in New York, after earlier falling as much as 0.2 percent. The equity gauge advanced 0.1 percent in the past five days, its fourth straight weekly gain.

Better-than-forecast corporate results and Fed stimulus have helped the S&P 500 rally 24 percent this year as it challenges 2009 for the best annual gain in the past decade. The gauge jumped 4.5 percent in October for the biggest advance in three months and closed at a record Oct. 29.

Of the 368 S&P 500 companies that have reported results for the third quarter, 75 percent exceeded analysts’ predictions for profit, while 53 percent beat sales estimates, data by Bloomberg showed. Profits for members of the gauge probably increased 4.1 percent in the period as sales climbed 2.9 percent, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.