U.S. stocks rise on upbeat earnings, data

U.S. stocks traded higher on Tuesday as several large-cap companies reported solid quarterly earnings.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 231.80 points, or 1.12 percent, to 20,995.69. The S&P 500 rose 14.21 points, or 0.60 percent, to 2,388.36. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 40.55 points, or 0.68 percent, to 6,024.37.

Caterpillar reported first-quarter earnings and revenue on Tuesday that far exceeded Wall Street's expectations, sending shares seven percent higher in early trading.

Excluding restructuring costs, the company reported first-quarter profit of 1.28 dollars per share, doubling that of the first quarter last year.

Shares of DuPont rallied over three percent in early trading, after it reported a better-than-expected profit for the seventh straight quarter, helped by a rise in seed sales.

The company's first-quarter earnings per share increased nine percent to 1.52 dollars from 1.39 dollars in prior year.

McDonald's also reported higher first-quarter earnings Tuesday with net income of 1.2 billion dollars, up eight percent from a year ago.

On the economic front, sales of new single-family houses in March 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 621,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday.

That was 5.8 percent above the revised February sales pace, and 15.6 percent higher than a year ago.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 120.3 in April, down from 124.9 in March, below economists' expectations. Endit