Earnings gains send US stock indexes slightly higher; Sysco, Vulcan Materials rise

11/4/2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Wall-Street-411

    A pair of traders work in a booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. Stocks indexes rose slightly on Monday as investors looked ahead to Twitter's highly anticipated public offering later this week and the Labor Department's employment survey on Friday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    • NEW YORK — Stock indexes are ending with slight gains as investors found plenty to like in housing, steel, and transportation stocks.

    Homebuilders rose after a big merger in the industry, and steel stocks gained after an upgrade from Goldman Sachs. Small-company stocks and transportation companies also moved higher.

    The Dow Jones industrial average rose 23 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,639 today.

    Other market indicators rose more.

    The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose six points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,767. The Nasdaq composite rose 14 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,936.

    The Russell 2000 of small-company stocks and an index of transportation stocks jumped 1 percent each.

    Sysco, a food distributor, and Vulcan Materials rose after reporting earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. BlackBerry plunged after giving up trying to find a buyer.