NEW YORK — Homebuilders led stocks up 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 to close at 12,534.67.
PulteGroup, Lennar and other housing stocks climbed on 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 centsto $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.
In other trading, the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 6.27 points to 1,319.99. The Nasdaq composite rose 17.90 points to 2,854.06.
Nearly two stocks rosefor every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was 3.3 billion shares.
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. James River plunged 15 percent, or 43 cents, to $2.49.
Alpha Natural Resources sank 20 cents to $7.73. Peabody Energy dropped 34 cents to $21.12.
More worrisome developments in Europe kept U.S. markets in check. Spain’s borrowing costs jumped in a pair of short-term debt auctions, the latest sign that investors are hesitant to lend the country money. The interest rateon the country’s three-month bills was 2.36 percent Tuesday, nearly triple the rate in the last such auction in May.
Spain’s main stock index sank 1.5 percent, the secondstraight day of deep losses, and the yield on its benchmark 10-year government bond rose to 6.81 percent, which makes it more expensive for the country to borrow.
Markets have also been battered by signs of withering economic growth around the world. Manufacturing has slowed in China, and hiring has weakened in the U.S. The Dow has taken its two largest daily losses of the year this month: a 250-point plunge June 21 and a 274-point one June 1.
Even with those losses, the Dow remains up 1.1 percent for June. The S&P 500 is up 0.7 percent.
Business, Pages 26 on 06/27/2012