NEW YORK — A late push gave stock indexes moderate gains Tuesday as investors brushed off news that consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since February.
A big jump in earnings from Walgreen and another corporate acquisition gave investors enough confidence to extend a four-week rally. Stocks were mixed for much of the day but struggled higher at the finish.
With two trading days left in the month, the Dow Jones industrial average is on track for its best September since 1939 with a gain of 8.4 percent in the month so far. It’s up 4.1 percent for the year.
Stocks got off to a bad start after the Conference Board said its September reading on consumer confidence fell sharply from August and came in well below forecasts. Mostly positive readings from economic data on manufacturing, home sales and jobs have helped push stocks higher this month after a dismal performance in August.
Scott Rostan, founder of Training the Street, which provides courses in financial modeling and corporate valuation, said the small move in stocks compared with the big decline in confidence was indicative of a growing schism between consumers and traders.
“There’s a big dichotomy between Main Street sentiment and Wall Street sentiment,” Rostan said.
Traders are more focused on sentiment and confidence among corporate executives than consumers are, he said.
Investors are “looking beyond today’s news at broader indications a double-dip (recession) is more and more remote,” said Joe Heider, a principal at Rehmann Financial.
If the Dow can climb above 11,000, it would be a strong indication the market is ready to break out of the broad trading range it has been stuck in since hitting its 2010 high in late April, Heider said.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 46.10, or 0.4 percent, to 10,858.14.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.54, or 0.5 percent, to 1,147.70, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 9.82, or 0.4 percent, to 2,379.59.
Walgreen Co. soared 11.4 percent after the drugstore chain reported income that easily beat forecasts. Meanwhile, technology stocks were dragged down on disappointment that Research in Motion Ltd. said it would not roll out its competitor to Apple Inc.’s iPad, the PlayBook, until the beginning of 2011.
