NEW YORK — The Dow Jones industrial average closed higher for the seventh consecutive day Tuesday. That’s the longest series of gains for the index since last July.
Earnings “have been much better than expected as a result of decent sales and much higher margins,” said Steven Neimeth, a money manager at SunAmerica Asset Management in Jersey City, N.J. “These are early indications that the economy is gaining traction on recovery.”
An index of companies that rely on consumer discretionary spending rallied 1.2 percent Tuesday, the biggest gain among 10 industries in the Standard & Poor’s 500.
McDonald’s was the biggest gainer of the 30 stocks in the Dow, rising 2.6 percent after reporting January sales that were higher than analysts expected.
Investors took in stride a move by China’s central bank to control inflation by raising short-term interest rates.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 71.52 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 12,233.15. The index has had only one down day in the past 10, on Jan. 28 when the protests in Egypt escalated.
The S&P 500 rose 5.52, or 0.4 percent, to 1,324.57. The Nasdaq composite index rose 13.06, or 0.5 percent, to 2,797.05.
China raised interest rates for the third time since October in an effort to keep prices from rising too fast. The country’s economic boom has resulted in higher prices, forcing some poor families to spend up to half of their income on food.
Many large U.S. companies have counted on spending in China for growth. Previously, interest-rate hikes in China have resulted in stock losses in the U.S. because of fears that spending there would fall.
Brain Gendreau, market strategist at Financial Network, said investors are becoming less concerned about slower spending in China because they are more confident that the U.S. economy will grow on its own.
“Raising interest rates is what the Chinese need to do when they have such an overheated economy,” he said.
Bond prices fell, extending a week of losses and sending their yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.73 percent from 3.64 percent Monday, its highest rate since last April.
