US stocks snap losing streak on mixed data, earnings

Trader John Panin, left, and specialist Jay Woods work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014. US stocks Tuesday finished solidly higher following a mixed bag of economic data and earnings reports, snapping a five-day losing streak for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW

NEW YORK—US stocks Tuesday finished solidly higher following a mixed bag of economic data and earnings reports, snapping a five-day losing streak for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

At the closing bell, the Dow advanced rose 89.27 (0.56 percent) to 15,927.15.

The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 10.89 (0.61 percent) to 1,792.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tacked on 14.21 (0.35 percent) at 4,097.82.

The market had been primed for a rally after significant losses on Thursday and Friday and a more modest decline Monday, said Mace Blicksilver, director at Marblehead Asset Management.

“The market’s been so weak that it’s entitled to a rally-back kind of day,” Blicksilver said.

Blicksilver rated Tuesday’s report showing rising consumer confidence “quite good,” but said it was offset by a “terrible” report on durable goods—US orders sank 4.3 percent in December against expectations of a rise.

Earnings reports were also mixed, with a disappointing outlook from Apple offset by strong results from Pfizer and others.

Despite Tuesday’s gains, the market is still in a “rocky” phase and could see further volatility this week and after, Blicksilver said.