Markets Right Now: Stocks hold on to modest gains at midday

NEW YORK – The latest on developments in financial markets (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

Stocks are holding on to modest gains after an early rally lost momentum.

Internet companies and consumer products makers were doing well Tuesday. Facebook rose 3.1 per cent and Coca-Cola climbed 1 per cent.

Energy companies were climbing as the price of crude oil headed for its seventh straight daily gain. Cabot Oil & Gas rose 2.7 per cent.

AutoNation slumped 3.1 per cent after predicting a tough year for auto sales and announcing a restructuring.

The S&P 500 index rose 5 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 2,555.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 102 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 23,633. It was up as much as 333 earlier.

The Nasdaq rose 12 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 6,834.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.70 per cent.

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9:35 a.m.

Stocks are opening broadly higher on Wall Street, building on two days of solid gains.

Traders were showing an increased appetite for risk Tuesday, sending shares of technology and industrial companies higher.

Global Payments jumped 2.5 per cent and railroad operator Union Pacific soared 9.4 per cent after naming a new chief operating officer.

PG&E plunged another 13 per cent after the S&P ratings agency cut the California utility’s debt rating to junk.

The S&P 500 index rose 26 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 2,577.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 283 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 23,818. The Nasdaq rose 80 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 6,906.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.71 per cent.