Stocks Ended Modest Gains

U.S. stocks ended Tuesday with modest gains, rebounding from three-straight sessions of heavy selling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10.27 points, or 0.06%, to 16,256.14. S&P 500 gained 6.92 points, or 0.38%, at 1,851.96. The Nasdaq Composite rose 33.23 points,
or 0.81%, to 4,112.99.

Alcoa Inc. (AA) reported first-quarter profit that surpassed analysts’ expectations. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $98 million, or 9 cents a share. Revenue for the three months ended March 31 fell to $5.45 billion from $5.83 billion.

Microsoft has carried out long-term plans to end customer support for its Windows XP operating system, and that could leave financial and health-care information stored by businesses vulnerable to hackers.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said Tuesday any further reforms of the financial regulatory system should feature clear rules that boost the market’s own ability to contain risks.

The International Monetary Fund said the core economies will actually hold fairly steady, with no major revisions to their GDP forecasts. It’s the emerging economies that are getting their growth forecasts reduced. And that’s led to a slight cut in the IMF’s global GDP
forecast in their April World Economic Outlook report, published Tuesday.