New York (AFP) – U.S. stocks Tuesday moved higher following a report showing rising home prices as investors kicked off the final session of a banner year for equities.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.36 points (0.15 percent) to 16,529.65.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 3.03 (0.16 percent) at 1,844.10, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 12.07 (0.29 percent) at 4,166.27.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 were above their record closing levels.
Home prices for the 20 biggest U.S. cities rose a seasonally adjusted 1.0 percent in October compared with the prior month, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home price index.
Prices were up 13.6 percent year-over-year, slightly less than the 13.8 percent rise expected by analysts.
Car-rental company Hertz gained 6.4 percent after enacting a “poison pill” plan designed to prevent a group of shareholders from taking a controlling stake in the company.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway was flat after announcing that it will purchase a specialty chemicals unit from refiner Phillips 66, paying with shares Berkshire already holds in Phillips. News reports said the stock deal was worth about $1.4 billion. Phillips rose 2.5 percent.
Chipmaker Marvell Technology Group gained 6.1 percent after private equity firm KKR disclosed that it owns a 6.8 percent stake in the firm.
Hewlett-Packard dipped 0.4 percent after increasing the number of staff it plans to lay off by 5,000 to 34,000.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year bond rose to 3.00 percent from 2.98 percent, while the 30-year held steady at 3.91 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
