Wall Street rises, as energy stocks continue run

By Lewis Krauskopf

(Reuters) - A fifth straight day of gains for energy shares drove U.S. stocks higher on Tuesday, while big tech names also helped propel the major indexes.

The S&P energy sector <.SPNY> rose 3 percent, easily leading the 10 major industry groups, as crude prices rallied. Oil majors Exxon and Chevron rose 2.3 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, making both stocks among the top influences on the Dow and S&P.

While energy stocks have risen about 23 percent since late August, the sector is still down roughly 10 percent year to date.

"I think there has been a real desire on the part of some investors to take advantage of depressed valuations," Eric Wiegand, who is a senior portfolio manager with U.S. Bank Wealth Management in New York.

 

At 2:32 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 145.59 points, or 0.82 percent, to 17,974.35, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 12.24 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,116.29 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 35.81 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,162.95.

Aside from energy, the materials and tech sectors each were up about 1 percent, with Apple and Microsoft each up 1.8 percent.

Activision Blizzard surged 5.2 percent to $36.38 and was the fifth biggest boost on the Nasdaq after the video games company said it would buy "Candy Crush" maker King Digital for $5.9 billion. King soared 14.5 percent to $17.80.

U.S. companies have posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results in general so far this earnings season. Of the 379 S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far, 70 percent have beaten profit estimates, compared with 63 percent in a typical quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

One exception was insurer AIG , whose shares fell 4.3 percent to $61.02 after the insurer's quarterly profit missed estimates by a wide margin. CEO Peter Hancock said Carl Icahn's proposal to break up the company did not "make financial sense".

Agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland dropped 6.5 percent to $43.28 after missing profit estimates. Altria fell 3.8 percent to $58.19 after a rating cut. The two were the biggest drags on the consumer staples sector.

Sprint fell 6.5 percent to $4.54 after the wireless carrier reported lower-than-expected results.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,926 to 1,101, for a 1.75-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,862 issues rose and 926 fell for a 2.01-to-1 ratio favouring advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 76 new highs and 20 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew, and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Chizu Nomiyama)