Stocks Closed Higher amid Mixed Economic Data

U.S. stocks closed mildly higher on Tuesday as investors remained optimistic on the Greece debt talks and eyed continued signs of moderate economic growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 24.29 points, or 0.13%, to 18,144.07. The S&P 500 was up 1.35 points, or 0.06%, to 2,124.20. The Nasdaq Composite added 6.12 points, or 0.12%, to 5,160.10.

Sales of new homes rose 2.2% in May from the month before to their highest level in seven years, thanks to a wave of homes listed in the Northeastern U.S. New single-family homes were sold at a seasonally adjusted rate of 546,000 in the U.S. last month, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

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 handset maker BlackBerry and global networking giant Cisco today said they have entered into a long- term patent cross-licensing agreement covering their respective products and technologies.

Wall Street’s top cop is reportedly looking to see if a group of hackers who breached corporate email accounts used information they gleaned for insider trading.

Verizon Communications completed its acquisition of AOL Inc. in just 42 days, tying it for 11th-fastest among deals valued at over $1 billion that closed this year.