New York - AFP
US stocks rose Tuesday, with the Dow hitting a fresh five-year high, as investors weighed company earnings and a mixed batch of economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 72.49 points (0.52 percent) to 13,954.42, just 1.5 percent below its all-time closing high on October 9, 2007.
The S&P 500, a broad measure of the markets, advanced 7.66 points (0.51 percent) to 1,507.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was flat, down a mere 0.64 point (0.02 percent) at 3,153.66.
\"It just seems to be a bold move higher, with nothing else going on,\" said Steven Rosen of Societe Generale. \"It is not a big move though.\"
\"Given some seemingly negative economic news,\" Joe Bell of Schaeffer\'s Investment Research noted, \"the market showed great resilience.\"
Investors shrugged off a weaker-than-expected consumer confidence reading to focus on positive corporate profit tallies. Home prices continued to show a recovery in the housing market.
The action came as the Federal Reserve opened a two-day meeting amid expectations the Fed will keep ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged.
Pfizer, the world\'s biggest pharmaceutical company, led the Dow gainers, jumping 3.2 percent after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that topped expectations.
Hewlett-Packard was the blue-chip laggard, sliding 3.2 percent.
Ford slumped 4.6 percent after posting stronger-than-expected earnings but mixed forecasts for 2013.
The Nasdaq was \"hamstrung by Yahoo Inc\'s softer-than-expected guidance and VMware Inc\'s disappointing revenue outlook,\" Charles Schwab & Co. said in a market note.
Yahoo! lost 3.0 percent and VMWare, a virtualization software and cloud computing company, plunged 21.5 percent.
On the Nasdaq, Apple added 1.9 percent after debuting a new iPad with more storage capacity.
Research in Motion tumbled 3.2 percent a day ahead of its launch of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.99 percent from 1.97 percent late Monday, while the yield on the 30-year bond climbed to 3.17 percent from 3.15 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.