Midday Dow up 63 points to 11,850.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks swung between small gains and losses in
midday trading Tuesday. Apple Inc. weighed on the Nasdaq composite
index after the company announced that its CEO, Steve Jobs, was
taking another medical leave.
Boeing Co. led the Dow Jones industrial average higher. The
aircraft maker rose 3.3 percent after reporting that it expects to
deliver its long-awaited 787 jet in the third quarter.
Other indexes were mixed after Citigroup Inc. and Delta Air Lines
Inc. reported weak earnings.
Apple fell 3 percent to $338. The company will also report earnings
after the stock market closes, along with IBM Corp.
The Dow has already gained 2.3 percent this year as optimism builds
about the economy. The index rose 11 percent last year, or 14
percent including dividends.
Citigroup fell 6.5 percent after reporting earnings that fell short
of forecasts. Delta lost 6.1 percent after winter storms caused its
earnings to come in lower than investors had expected.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 59, or 0.5 percent, to
11,846. Boeing was the biggest gainer of the 30 stocks that make up
the average, followed by Caterpillar Inc. and Alcoa Inc.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.4 to 1,292. The Nasdaq
composite index lost 0.5, or 0.1 percent, to 2,754.
European markets rose after Greece raised $865 million in another
successful bond auction. That allayed concerns about Europe’s
financial system, which have been a drag on U.S. markets.
Bond prices fell, pushing their yields higher. The yield on the
10-year Treasury note rose to 3.38 percent from 3.32 percent late
Friday. U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King
Jr. holiday.
