US stocks recover from two-month lows

Stocks rebounded from a string of declines sparked by turmoil in developing markets. Stronger-than-forecast earnings reports helped pushing stocks toward gains, investors said, led by Facebook and Visa.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 109.82 points, or 0.7%, to close at 15848.61. The S&P 500 added 19.99 points, or 1.1%, to 1794.19, the biggest gain in more than one month for the broad-market benchmark. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 71.69 points, or 1.8%, to 4123.13, its largest one-day advance since October.

“The fact we can print a quarter in which GDP growth was more than 3% even though government spending contracted as much as it did, is unquestionably a positive,” Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC in New York, said by phone for Bloomberg. “The concerns over emerging markets are the dominant topic. To the extent this remains contained, the selloff is likely to be limited.”

The annualized gain in U.S. gross domestic product matched the median forecast in a survey of economists and followed a 4.1 percent advance in the prior three months, Commerce Department figures showed yesterday. Growth in the second half of the year was the strongest since the six months ended in March 2012.

Consumer spending, which accounts for almost 70% of the economy, climbed 3.3%, less than estimated.

In corporate world, Google Inc. rose 2.6% to $1,135.39 following the agreement with Lenovo Group Ltd. to sell the Motorola Mobility mobile-phone business from the owner of the world’s largest search engine for $2.91 billion. The Chinese PC maker will pay $1.4 billion in cash and its own shares and $1.5 billion in a three-year promissory note, Google said in a statement.

Amazon.com tumbled 7.7% to $371.85 as of 4:46 p.m. in New York. The world’s largest Web retailer reported fourth-quarter profit after the market close that trailed analysts’ estimates following a surge in costs to ship gifts over the holidays.

Visa Inc. added 1.7% to $220.88 as the debit- and credit-card network posted profit for the first quarter of its financial year that beat analysts’ estimates. The company generated net income of $2.20 a share, more than the $2.16 average projection in a survey.

Exxon Mobil Corp. lost 1.2% to $93.99. The world’s largest oil producer by market value said fourth-quarter profit dropped as it pumped less crude and natural gas from wells, and prices stagnated.

Symantec Corp. fell 7.3% to $22.38. The data security firm slid the most since October after the company forecast revenue that fell short of some analysts’ estimates, as declines in the personal-computer market and the emergence of advanced hacking threats hurt demand for traditional antivirus software.

Under Armour gained almost 23% after reporting that its quarterly profit surged 28% and as the athletic-goods maker posted strong sales growth. Nike also rose.