Stocks Opened with Solid Gains after Housing Data

U.S. stocks opened with strong gains on Tuesday after data showed that the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index was flat in March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rallied 105.23 points to 12,560.06, with all of its 30 components trading higher. The S&P 500 index gained 10.78 points to 1,328.60. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 19.84 points to 2,857.37.

U.S. home prices were unchanged in March, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index. The three-month rolling index includes transactions that took place from January to March. Over the past 12 months, prices have fallen 2.6% as measured by the Case-Shiller index, which is now at a post- recession low.

Samsung Electronics launched its top-of-the-range Galaxy S3 smartphone in Europe on Tuesday, aiming to outsell its previous model that helped the South Korean company topple Apple as the world’s largest smartphone maker.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has sold an estimated $25 billion of profitable securities in an effort to prop up earnings after suffering trading losses tied to the bank’s now-infamous “London Whale,” compounding the cost of those trades.