US markets edge higher; Home Depot slips

Major U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday, a day after the Standard & Poor's 500 index set its second record-high close in two days. Some encouraging news from Japan and Germany also helped lift markets.

Keeping score: The Standard & Poor's 500 index added six points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,048 as of 10:02 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 36 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,684. The Nasdaq composite gained 25 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,696.

Earnings misses: Home Depot and Urban Outfitters declined after the companies' latest quarterly earnings missed analysts' forecasts. Home Depot fell $1.45, or 1.5 percent, to $96.58. Urban Outfitters shed $2.16, or 7 percent, to $28.66.

Asia's day: Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index rose 2.2 percent amid expectations, later confirmed, that Japan's government will delay a sales tax increase that was planned for next year. Elsewhere in Asia, Seoul's Kospi added 1.2 percent, the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.6 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined by 1.1 percent. Singapore and Indonesia were up, while Sydney declined.

European markets: Markets rallied in Europe as Germany's ZEW measure of investor sentiment showed an improvement in November after 10 months of declines. Germany's DAX rose 1.4 percent, while the CAC-40 in France gained 0.8 percent. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 0.3 percent.

Energy: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 89 cents to $74.75 a barrel in New York.

Bonds: The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped to 2.33 percent from 2.34 percent late Monday.

___

by Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer . AP Business Writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Gayly – November 18, 2014 @ 10am