Stock Market Today: Stocks Rise Amid Mixed Reports on Durable Goods, Home Prices

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday amid mixed economic data in the U.S. and stronger-than-forecast industrial activity in China and indications the country may increase its economic openness. Durable goods orders for September unexpectedly fell in the U.S., missing expectations of a rise. Home prices in the U.S., however, continued to rise in August, slightly exceeding economist forecasts.a The S&P 500awas rising 0.44%, while the Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average were trading higher by 0.62% and 0.09%, respectively. Durable goods orders in the U.S. unexpectedly fell 1.3% in September, sharply missing median economist forecasts of a 0.5% rise. Excluding transportation, durable goods fell 0.2% in September, missing estimates and indicating continued declines in orders. The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed a 0.2% month-over-month increase in housing prices nationwide in August, slightly exceeding estimates of a 0.18% rise. Detroit led monthly home price gains, posting a 0.8% rise, while Dallas, Denver and Las Vegas rose 0.5%. San Francisco declined 0.4%. The 10-city composite rose 5.5% year over year, while the 20-city composite gained 5.6%. Both figures indicated a deceleration in home price gains from July.aU.S. consumer confidence readings for October will be released at 10 a.m. EDT. Data from the Chinese statistics bureau showed that industrial profits in the country rose by 563.4 billion yuan ($92.2 billion) in September, reversing a 0.6% drop in August. Bloomberg data show that industrial profits have risen 7.9% through the first nine months of 2014, exceeding overall gross domestic product. Chinese stock indices surged over 1.5% on Tuesday after President Xi Jinping said the country may consider opening free trade zones nationwide. In Europe, the Swedish Riksbank surprised investors by cutting its benchmark interest rate, causing the Swedish krona to weaken to a four-year low against the U.S. dollar. Investors also are awaiting a decision from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday as to whether the central bank will end its monthly bond-buying in October. The Fed's guidance indicates an end to stimulus efforts, as do median forecasts of economists polled by Bloomberg. Twitter reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of 1 cent a share, matching forecasts, while revenue topped analysts' expectations. Twitter's user base rose 23% to 284 million monthly active users in the quarter, indicating a slowing in user growth. Twitter's guidance for coming quarter profits and sales also may have disappointed investors. Shares tumbled more than 12% in earlyatrading. Madison Square Garden is considering a plan to separate its entertainment businesses from its media and sports divisions, causing shares in the company to surge over 9% in earlyatrading. MSG's entertainment unit hosts live events at the company's namesake Manhattan venue and at other sites including Radio City Musical Hall. The media and sports business owns teams including the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers plus regional sports networks MSG Network and MSG+. Shares in the company opened Tuesday trading with aahigher market capitalization than former parent Cablevision , which spun off the business in 2009. DuPont and Pfizer reported better-than-forecast third-quarter earnings, while telecom T-Mobile addeda1.4 million post-paid subscribers in the third quarter and maintained coming quarters' guidance. Social media giant Facebook is expected by Wall Street on Tuesday to report a profit of 40 cents a share in the third quarter on revenue of $3.12 billion. Facebook earned 17 cents a share in the same quarter a year earlier. Gilead Sciences reports after the close of trading on Tuesday, with analysts expecting $1.93 a share in profit. Anadarko Petroleum reports after the close, with analysts expecting $1.27 a share in profit. Panera Bread reports after the close, with analysts expecting $1.42 a share in profit. Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks -- Written by Antoine Gara in New York Follow @AntoineGara // 0;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); // ]]>

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