US stocks rise for 4th straight day

In this Monday, July 8, 2013 photo, traders Joel Lucchese, left, and Michael Urkonis confer on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Asian stock markets rebounded and European shares continued a global rally Tuesday July 9, 2013 following positive U.S. economic news as nervousness about an imminent scaling back of the Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus eased. AP FILE PHOTO

NEW YORK CITY—US stocks Tuesday closed solidly higher for the fourth straight day as investors ignored the International Monetary Fund’s lowered growth forecasts for the US and global economies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 75.65 (0.50 percent) to 15,300.34.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 11.86 (0.72 percent) to 1,652.32, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 19.43 (0.56 percent) to 3,504.26.

The International Monetary Fund trimmed its world economic growth expectations for 2013 to 3.1 percent from the April forecast of 3.3 percent.

China and other emerging economic powers now face new risks, the IMF warned, “including the possibility of a longer growth slowdown.”

But some analysts said investors were cheered by slightly better-than-expected earnings from Dow component Alcoa, which kicked off the earnings season late Monday, and were increasingly comfortable with the prospect that the Federal Reserve will soon begin tapering its stimulus program

“People have started to realize in the last week that even though the Fed may be tapering, the only way it is going to happen is if there is economic improvement, “said Michael James, managing director of equity trading and Wedbush Morgan Securities.

Blue chips scored solid gains: Bank of America was up 1.9 percent and Morgan Stanley added 2.3 percent; Caterpillar gained 2.6 percent). Networking giant Cisco gained 2.2 percent.

Package delivery firm FedEx rose 4.4 percent amid speculation that Bill Ackman, head of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, had put his sights on the company.

Apple rose 1.8 percent after a US court dismissed a lawsuit with Amazon over use of the “app store” name after Apple decided to stop pursuing the case. Amazon increased 0.3 percent.

IBM shed 1.9 percent after Goldman Sachs cut its rating to “neutral” from “buy,” citing pressures on IBM’s growth markets and higher-margin revenue streams, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Netflix surged 6.1 percent after it announced an extension of a streaming content contract with CBS. CBS rose 0.9 percent.

Book retailer Barnes & Noble shot up 5.4 percent after announcing that chief executive William Lynch would step down. The company’s Nook tablet business has struggled in recent months.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 2.63 percent from 2.64 percent late Monday. The yield on the 30-year edged higher to 3.65 percent from 3.64 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.