US stocks rise after earning reports

U.S. stocks rose, as monthly flows into equity exchange-traded funds reached a five-year high, after housing data and earnings from companies including McDonald’s Corp. boosted sentiments that stimulus program would continue. Investors have increasingly turned to stocks this month, as U.S. equity exchange-traded funds are getting money at the fastest rate since September 2008.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 1,695.53 at 4 p.m. in New York, extending its record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.81 points, or less than 0.1%, to 15,545.55. The S&P 500 rallied 0.7% last week to a record, after better-than-forecast earnings and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank remains flexible about the duration of its asset-purchase program.

“The earnings reflect a growing economy, but not a robust economy, not a runaway economy,” John Carey, a fund manager at Boston-based Pioneer Investment Management Inc., said by telephone for Bloomberg. “There was concern that the economy may be doing a little better than the Fed was estimating and that might lead to an earlier tapering. Now with fairly modest economic growth and slow earnings growth, I don’t think people are going to be as worried about the tapering.”

Once again, financial companies gained the most among 10 industries in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index as Bank of America Corp. advanced 1.2%. Newmont Mining Corp. surged 5.8%, leading gains among gold producers, as the metal’s price jumped the most in a year. McDonald’s retreated 2.7% after revenue missed forecasts. Yahoo Inc. lost 4.3% after saying activist investor Daniel Loeb is leaving the board. Home-building companies fell, with D.R. Horton Inc. losing 2.2%, as sales of previously owned houses unexpectedly dropped in June.

More than 150 S&P 500 companies, including Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc., report their earnings this week. Of the 108 companies on the gauge to have already reported quarterly results, 71% have exceeded analysts’ profit estimates and 52% have beaten sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.