Stocks Ended Higher After Sell-off

U.S. stocks ended broadly higher on Tuesday, recovering a day after the market’s biggest sell-off since November, as stronger-than-expected earnings brightened the profit picture. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 99.22 points, or 0.71%, at 13,979.30. The S&P 500 ended up 15.58 points, or 1.04%, to 1,511.29. The Nasdaq Composite rose 40.41 points, or 1.29%, to 3,171.58.

Zynga Inc reported fourth-quarter revenues of $311 million on Tuesday, virtually unchanged from a year ago. The game maker reported a quarterly profit of 1 cent per share on an adjusted basis, beating Wall Street expectations for a loss of 3 cents per share.

Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE:DIS) fiscal first-quarter earnings slipped 5.6% as the entertainment giant recorded lower profits at its studio business. Overall, for the quarter ended Dec. 29, Disney reported a profit of $1.38 billion, or 77 cents a share, down from $1.46 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue was up 5.2% to $11.34 billion.

Ally Financial Inc. said Tuesday it posted fourth-quarter net income of $1.45 billion, reversing a year-ago loss, helped by a tax benefit and growth in auto financing. The recent quarter’s results included a tax benefit of $1.38 billion as well as costs related to pensions, the ResCap bankruptcy and other items. Excluding those, profit from continuing operations came to $308 million, compared with $179 million the year before.