US stocks rose after 4 days drop amid Fed minutes, company reports

U.S. stocks rose, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 breaking a four-day losing streak, as retailers’ results surpassed estimates and investors awaited signals on stimulus measures from the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 added 0.4% to 1,652.35 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 7.75 points, or less than 0.1%, to 15,002.99, erasing earlier gains of as much as 0.4%. Almost 5.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges today, 16% below the three-month average, as more than three stocks rose for each that fell.

“We had some pretty good retail earnings, it just shows the consumer is not dead and that things are moving in the right direction,” Frank Ingarra, head trader at Greenwich, Connecticut-based NorthCoast Asset Management LLC, said in a phone interview for Bloomberg. His firm manages about $1.7 billion. “Everyone is still focused on Fed tapering. We remain cautiously bullish with pretty full exposure to stocks.”

The central bank will post the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s July 30-31 meeting today. Investors will analyse the discussions looking for any sign that may indicate when the Fed will reduce the pace of its monthly asset purchases. Officials meet in Jackson Hole, Wyoming this week to discuss monetary policy. They will start to scale back bond buying next month, according to 65% of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Best Buy Co. gained 13% after posting quarterly sales that exceeded projections. TJX Cos. added 6.9% as profit beat forecasts. Urban Outfitters Inc. jumped 8.2% as Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its rating on the stock. Zillow Inc. dropped 4.8% after the operator of the largest U.S. real-estate website announced a share sale.

Barnes & Noble Inc. plunged 12% to $14.61, the lowest since Feb. 22. Founder Leonard Riggio suspended his efforts to bid for the company’s retail business, the company said in a filing today. Riggio, who’s also the company’s chairman and largest shareholder, said in February that he planned to make an offer to buy the company’s retail assets, which include its 680 stores and website.