by Marc Bastow | February 26, 2013 4:56 pm
[1]Wall Street managed to pick itself up off the mat thanks to an early-morning rally stoked by positive economic data and corporate earnings, then additional momentum after Ben Bernanke defended the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying stimulus program[2] in front of Congress.
The S&P Case-Shiller home price index showed that home prices jumped 6.8% year-over-year in December[3]. Meanwhile, the Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence increased in February.
At the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.84% to close at 13,900.96, the S&P 500 rose 0.61% to 1,496.94 and the Nasdaq closed higher by 0.43% at 3,129.65.
Housing-related stocks naturally headed higher Tuesday. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE:XHB[4]) gained nearly 3%, with strong single-stock performances coming from Hovnanian (NYSE:HOV[5], +11.4%), KB Home (NYSE:KBH[6], +7.2%) and PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM[7], +5.7%).
Home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE:HD[8]) reported strong year-end results[9], showing a 7% gain in same-store sales for the fourth quarter. HD stock rose over 5% on the day to lead all Dow components. Sectormates Lumber Liquidators (NYSE:LL[10], +5.5%) and Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW[11], +2%) also headed higher.
Department store chain Macy’s (NYSE:M[12]) rose just less than 3% after it announced net sales rose in the fourth quarter to $9.4 billion from a year earlier and that same-store sales rose 3.7% for the year, higher than its initial forecast of a 3.5% gain.
Electronics retailer RadioShack (NYSE:RSH[13]) announced lower Q4 revenues and earnings and suggested it would have to close stores and take on more debt to fund operations[14]. RSH shares initially dipped on the news, reversed to gains of more than 3%, then finally settled in at a fractional improvement.
Earnings notables for Wednesday include Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN[15]), JCPenney (NYSE:JCP[16]) and Target (NYSE:TGT[17]).
Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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