Dow Jones and S&P 500 Sharply Higher; Nasdaq in Red

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 have rebounded sharply after Monday’s sell-off as some solid corporate earnings reports have lifted investors’ sentiment. However, the Nasdaq is still in red. Solid corporate earnings reports released earlier today have offset ongoing worries about the euro zone debt crisis.

At last check, the Dow Jones was trading 0.75% higher at 13,024.50, the S&P 500 was trading 0.43% higher at 1,372.86, and the Nasdaq was trading 0.13% lower at 2,966.68.

Conglomerates are leading the gains in the S&P 500 in mid-day trading. At last check, the sector was trading 1.59% higher. Industrials are also up sharply in trading today. At last check, the sector was trading 1.01% higher. Transportation stocks are currently trading 1.08% higher. Technology stocks have been the worst performers today, down 0.43% currently.

Among the major gainers and losers in mid-day trading today are AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), which is currently trading 3.76% higher at $31.76, Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT), which is currently trading 6.92% lower at $82.93, The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY), which is currently trading 5.73% higher at $65.86, Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN), which is currently trading 15.27% higher at $31.63, and Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), which is currently trading 10.10% lower at $16.25.

On the economic front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed that new home sales dropped 7.1% in the month of March to a seasonally adjusted 328,000 unit rate, the lowest level in four months. However, the reading beat economists’ forecast. Meanwhile, a separate report showed that home prices in 20 U.S. cities dropped in February.

The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence indexes fell slightly in April to 69.2 from a downwardly revised 69.5 in March. Economists were expecting a reading of 69.7.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.