Stocks Opened Slightly Higher

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Tuesday, as investors assessed a reading on durable-goods orders, which came in weaker than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately gained 48.54 points, or 0.27%, to 18,168.32. The S&P 500 was up 3.31 points, or 0.16%, to 2,126.16. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.18 points, to 5,154.15.

A gauge of U.S. business investment spending plans rose in May, offering a tentative sign of stabilization in the manufacturing sector after activity started weakening in the late summer of 2014. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft rose 0.4 percent last month. These so- called core capital goods orders slipped 0.3 percent in April.

Canadian mobile phone firm Blackberry has seen its quarterly losses shrink thanks to higher software revenue. The company made a net loss of $28m in the three months to the end of May. It reported total revenue for the period of $658m, slightly lower than the previous quarter.

The eurozone economy revived toward the end of the second quarter despite the threat of a Greek debt default and exit from the currency area, as surveys of purchasing managers recorded a pickup in business activity in June following two months of slowdown.

Darden Restaurants plans to separate part of the company into an independent, publicly-traded real estate investment trust, the company said Tuesday. Darden, which owns Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, among other other restaurants, will spin off about 430 of its more than 1,500 restaurants into the REIT.

3M is buying safety equipment maker Capital Safety from KKR for about $1.8 billion as demand for protective
gear grows. The transaction also includes approximately $700 million in debt.