Dow back above 17,000 on higher consumer confidence

In this Oct. 8, 2014, photo, people walk to work on Wall Street beneath a statue of George Washington, in New York. The Dow jumped back above 17,000 Tuesday, Oct. 28, following a strong report on US consumer confidence and another round of mostly solid corporate earnings. AP

NEW YORK–The Dow jumped back above 17,000 Tuesday following a strong report on US consumer confidence and another round of mostly solid corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 187.81 points (1.12 percent) to 17,005.75, its first close above 17,000 since October 3.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 23.42 (1.19 percent) to 1,985.05, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index soared 78.36 (1.75 percent) to 4,564.29.

The Conference Board said the consumer confidence index leaped to 94.5 in October from 89.0 in September, a cheery sign for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, said the report offset a “lousy” drop in durable goods orders for September due to a decline in volatile transportation orders.

Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities, said most earnings have been “very solid.”

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer advanced 0.2 percent as earnings came in at $2.7 billion, up 2.9 percent from the prior year. Stronger sales in vaccines and some other products offset the negative hit from patent expirations on other medications.

Twitter sank 9.8 percent as it reported a 23 percent rise in monthly users to 284 million. Analysts said the microblogging site’s user trends are discouraging compared with rival Facebook.

Metals producer Freeport-McMoran dropped 4.2 percent as third-quarter net income fell 32.8 percent to $552 million due to lower prices for gold and copper.

Department store chain Kohl’s slumped 6.6 percent after projecting comparable sales will drop 1.4 percent in the third quarter and that 2014 earnings will be at the low end of its prior estimated range.

IBM advanced 1.1 percent on news that its board authorized $5 billion in additional funds for share repurchases.

Biotech company Amgen bolted 6.1 percent higher as it unveiled plans to implement deeper job cuts, lift shareholder payouts and increase revenues to more than $20 billion in 2015.

Madison Square Garden jumped 11.0 percent following its announcement that it may split itself into separate companies, with one division focusing on entertainment and the other on media and sports.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.28 percent from 2.26 percent Monday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.06 percent from 3.03 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.