Homebuilders' stocks up amid rise in home prices - USATODAY.com

NEW YORK — NEW YORK Homebuilders led stocks up on Tuesday, helping major indexes recoup some losses from the day before. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. surged after the media conglomerate said it may split into two companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 32.01 points, or .03percent, to 12,534.67.

PulteGroup, Lennar and other housing stocks climbed following news that a measure of national home prices rose 1.3 percent in April, the first increase in seven months. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index showed a rise in 19 out of the 20 major cities tracked; Detroit was the only city where prices fell.

PulteGroup rose 49 cents to $9.72 and Lennar rose 81 cents to $27.39.

"There's some good news out there, especially if you look at the housing market," said John De Clue, regional investment director of U.S. Bank's wealth-management unit in Minneapolis. "But there's this overriding theme: concerns over global growth. Things are pretty much slowing everywhere you look."

News Corp. jumped 8 percent. The company confirmed that it's contemplating a breakup into two publicly traded companies. The split would divide its publishing from its entertainment businesses. The media empire includes the Wall Street Journal, Fox News Channel, and newspapers in Britain and Australia. News Corp.'s stock leapt $1.68 to $21.76.

In other trading, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 6.27, or 0.5percent, to 1,319.99. The Nasdaq composite rose 17.90, or 0.6percent, to 2,854.06.

Investors sold coal company stocks after S&P lowered the credit rating for James River Coal deeper into junk status, citing weaker demand for coal. Utilities have favored natural gas instead of coal to generate electricity and are also preparing for new emission standards.

by Associated Press Jun 26, 2012


Homebuilders' stocks up amid rise in home prices - USATODAY.com