“Muted economic reports didn’t stand in the way of Tuesday’s stock gains,” Chris Dieterich and Tomi Kilgore report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Before the opening bell, data showed U.S. home construction fell 5.8% in March, its second straight monthly decline. The reading was well below expectations for a 0.7% increase,” Dieterich and Kilgore report. “Meanwhile, the number of new housing permits rose 4.5% last month, reaching their highest level since September 2008. Economists had forecast a modest decline.”
“Separately, industrial production was flat for the second month in March while capacity utilization slipped from February, month, signals that key engine of the U.S. economy is stalling,” Dieterich and Kilgore report. “‘The reason the market doesn’t care is that they are obviously focusing on Spain,’ said Anthony Chan, chief economist at J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Management. Spain sold more debt that it had planned on Tuesday, a sign of healthy demand.”
Dieterich and Kilgore report, “Technology-sector stocks led all 10 of the S&P 500’s groups higher. Apple snapped a five-session streak of declines that saw the world’s largest company shed more than $50 billion in market capitalization.”
Read more in the full article here.