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US stocks end higher on solid corp results

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US stocks have closed higher after some solid corporate results helped spark a partial recovery from the prior day’s rout.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 72.44 points (0.47 per cent) to 15,445.24.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 13.31 (0.76 per cent) at 1,755.20, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 34.56 (0.86 per cent) to 4,031.52.

Sterling results from Michael Kors Holdings and restaurant chain Yum Brands gave investors occasion to buy after stocks lost more than two per cent on Monday.

Mace Blicksilver, director of Marblehead Asset Management, said Michael Kors was “rewarded” after results bested expectations. Shares of the retailer soared 17.3 per cent on a 28 per cent rise in same-store sales.

But Blicksilver said the gains in the broader market were mainly a trading bounce after Monday’s retreat.

“If the S&P had not rebounded, it would have been unusual after such losses,” Blicksilver said.

Dow component Microsoft slipped 0.4 per cent after appointing Satya Nadella as the company’s chief executive and announcing that founder Bill Gates would step down as chairman and serve as technology adviser.

The change comes as Microsoft aims to build its presence in mobile and cloud-computing technology to compete with Apple, Google and other rivals.

Apple picked up 1.5 per cent after an industry survey showed the company’s smartphone fourth-quarter US market share rose to 41.8 per cent from 40.6 per cent.

Facebook rose 2.1 per cent as founder Mark Zuckerberg expressed confidence in the company’s continued growth on the 10th anniversary of its founding.

Yum Brands rose 8.9 per cent. The owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and other restaurant chains projected at least 20 per cent earnings growth in 2014 after difficulties over its poultry supply in China marred results in 2013.

Struggling department-store chain JC Penney fell 10.6 per cent after comparable store sales in the fourth quarter rose 2.0 per cent. Analysts said the company needs to demonstrate stronger growth after a big slump.

Pharmaceutical company Furiex Pharmaceuticals shot up 129.9 per cent after announcing promising results for two clinical trials on eluxadoline for the treatment of diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.62 per cent from 2.58 per cent Monday, while the 30-year increased to 3.59 per cent from 3.54 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.