Market Recap: Housing Report Keeps Markets Afloat

Markets closed up today:

▲ Dow: +0.04 percent

▲ Nasdaq: +0.10 percent

▲ S&P: +0.41 percent

Precious metals:

▲ Gold: +0.07 percent to $1,749.83 an ounce

▲ Silver: +0.60 percent to settle at $33.19

Commodities:

▼ Oil: -0.10 percent

Markets were up because:

A housing report helped push the stock market mostly higher Wednesday, while weak earnings reports from Intel and IBM weighed on the Dow Jones industrial average.

Even though the two tech giants disappointed, overall earnings results have come in much better than some investors had feared.

The Dow edged up 5.22 points to close at 13,557, barely managing its fourth straight day of gains. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 5.99 points to 1,460.91.

Better results from Mattel, Goldman Sachs, and Johnson & Johnson shot the stock market higher Tuesday. For the week, the Dow is up 1.7 percent and the S&P 500 is up 2.3 percent.

Heading into this earnings season, FedEx, Caterpillar and other global heavyweights had warned investors that China's slowing economy and Europe's ongoing debt crisis would weigh on quarterly profits.

Analysts still expect that third-quarter earnings for companies in the S&P 500 will shrink for the first time since 2009.

IBM reported sales late Tuesday that missed Wall Street's expectations. On a call with analysts, IBM's chief financial officer said the company faced "more challenging" market conditions in September, the final month of the quarter, as cautious customers and a weakening euro undercut its results. IBM's stock sank $10.37 to $200.63.

Without IBM's drop, the Dow would have been 79 points higher. Stocks with higher prices carry more weight in the average of 30 large companies. Every move of $1 in any Dow stock is equivalent to moving the Dow average 7.68 points.

Intel warned that sales of personal computers will likely remain weak during the holiday season this year. The chip-maker cut its revenue estimates for the year-end quarter when it reported results late Tuesday. Intel's stock fell 56 cents to $21.79.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders broke ground on building new single-family houses and apartments at the fastest pace since July 2008. Housing starts surged to an annual rate of 872,000 in September, far above estimates by economists.

In other trading, the Nasdaq composite index inched up 2.95 points to 3,104.12. More than two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

The housing report helped lift the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to 1.81 percent from 1.72 percent late Tuesday. Better economic news usually sends traders out of safe assets like Treasurys, and when bond prices fall their yields rise.

The 10-year Treasury yield, a standard benchmark for mortgages and other loans, started October at 1.63 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.