Earnings reports help Wall Street higher

Earnings reports helped the New York equities markets to advances by mid-session on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 percent to 11,455.83, while the Nadsaq Composite was 0.9 percent higher to 2,192.96 an the S&P 500 had added 0.6 percent to 1,306.90.

Flat-panel television sales helped Best Buy to second quarter earnings that were higher than had been expected. The electronics retailer was 5.8 percent higher to $50.54. These results, with their implication that consumers are spending more than had been assumed, helped out the homebuilding sector. Pulte added 4.5 percent to $30.83, while DR Horton gained 4.7 percent to $23.41.

McDonald’s reported a 6 percent rise in sales in August, helping its shares to add 2.3 percent to $37.96, its highest level in six years.

Semiconductors were up after a sector-wide upgrade from Credit Suisse. Broadcom was 4.2 percent higher to $27.58, while Applied Materials, which makes chip making equipment, added 4.4 percent to $17.15.

In the banking sector, Goldman Sachs was 3.3 percent higher to $156.01 even though profits fell in its third quarter. Despite the decline, profits still were higher than analysts had expected.

Positive results did not help Kroger, however. Even though the supermarket chain said that earnings were up in its second quarter, profit margins were lower than some analysts had expected, sending shares 4.2 percent lower to $23.07.

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