Tuesday Closing Bell: Stocks Open Higher, Hold Onto Gains

September 3, 2013: U.S. markets opened higher on Tuesday morning following Monday’s Labor Day holiday with an upbeat reaction to European and Asian PMI reports. ISM data for the U.S. rose unexpectedly and July new construction spending also rose more than expected. House Speaker John Boehner’s statement of support for President Obama’s call to action in Syria cut into early gains, but did not wipe them out.

European markets closed mixed today, while Asian markets closed higher and Latin American markets closed lower.

Wednesday’s calendar includes reports from automakers on August sales, speeches by Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota and San Francisco Fed President John Williams, and the following data releases and events (all times Eastern):

• 7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
• 8:300 a.m. – International trade
• 10:00 a.m. – Quarterly services survey
• 11:30 a.m. – 4-week bill auction
• 2:00 p.m. – Beige Book

Here are the closing bell levels for Tuesday:

• S&P500 1,639.75 (+6.78; +0.42%)
• DJIA 14,833.73 (+23.65; +0.16%)
• NASDAQ 3,612.61 (+22.74; +0.63%)
• 10YR TNOTE 2.858% (-0.5625)
• Gold $1,412.00 (+15.90; +1.1%)
• Euro/Dollar: 1.3176 (-0.0016; -0.12%)

Stocks on the move: Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is up 31.5% at $5.13 on the announcement that Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will acquire the Finnish firm’s mobile phone business for $7.2 billion. Chinese solar energy stocks are getting a boost again today, with Hanwha SolarOne Co. (NASDAQ: HSOL) up more than 15.9% and ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) up 14.9%.

Big Deals: Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) will pay $130 billion for the 45% stake in Verizon Wireless by Vodafone Group plc (NASDAQ: VOD) in one of the three largest acquisitions ever. Vodafone was involved in two of them.

In all, 49 stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while 55 stocks posted new lows.