Market report

Apple, Twitter fall as market rises

NEW YORK -- Stocks posted modest gains Tuesday as investors worked through another large batch of earnings reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 72.17 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,110.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.84 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,114.76. The Nasdaq composite edged down 4.82 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,055.42.

Shares of Twitter plunged nearly 20 percent after its results, which were released early, missed analysts' marks.

Earnings season is at its busiest this week, with more than 150 companies reporting their results, including Apple, Exxon Mobil, Ford and others. So far, earnings have been coming in better than the gloomy expectations analysts had at the beginning of the month.

But with stocks trading at all-time highs, there's little momentum for this market to barrel upward, strategists say.

"This market just feels tired to me," said Dan Morgan, a fund manager at Synovus Trust.

The Nasdaq ended lower partly because of Apple -- which fell $2.09, or 1.6 percent -- to $130.56.

The iPhone and computer-maker Monday reported a record quarterly profit of $13.6 billion, but Apple's outlook was not as rosy as some analysts had predicted. Apple had $193.5 billion in cash on its balance sheet and plans on increasing its dividend and share buyback.

Twitter was the center of some late-day drama when its quarterly results were unexpectedly released before the market closed. Twitter's revenue missed analysts' expectations, sending its shares down $9.39, or 18 percent, to $42.27.

Much of the focus this week will be on the Fed's two-day policy meeting, which ends today.Policymakers are discussing when the Fed should start raising interest rates again. The Fed opened the door to rate increases after its March meeting, but some recent weak economic data might complicate that picture.

"What we do know is the Fed is going to remain accommodative and keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future," said David Lefkowitz, senior equity strategy at UBS Wealth Management.

Another weak signal on the U.S. economy came out Tuesday. The Conference Board reported that its index of consumer confidence fell to the lowest level in four months as hiring slowed down.

The Conference Board said its index fell to 95.2 in April from 101.4 in March. That was the lowest since 93.1 in December. The survey's measure of how respondents assess current economic conditions fell for the third straight month. Their expectations for the future also fell.

In energy markets, the price of U.S. oil rose slightly while global crude slipped. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 7 cents to close at $57.06 a barrel in New York. Brent crude fell 19 cents to close at $66.64 in London.

In other energy futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, wholesale gasoline fell 0.7 cent to close at $2.002 a gallon; heating oil fell 0.4 cent to close at $1.917 a gallon; and natural gas rose 2.7 cents to close at $2.517 per 1,000 cubic feet.

U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.98 percent from 1.92 percent late Monday.

Business on 04/29/2015

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