Stocks rise for a second day as earnings season ramps up, Dow up more than 200 points:

New residential home sales accelerated in March at a faster than expected pace as mortgage rates declined during the month, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Sales of single-family homes totaled 693,000 for the month, considerably higher than the downwardly revised 637,000 in February and better than the 669,000 estimate from Dow Jones. With the lower February total, the 8.8% gain in March was much higher than the 1.1% forecast.

After dipping in January, the median sales price jumped back up to $430,700, the highest level since August 2023.

Interest rates for 30-year mortgages edged lower in March to below 7% but have since rebounded, according to Bankrate.

—Jeff Cox

Shares of Spotify jumped 13% Tuesday after the streaming music company beat expectations on the top and bottom lines for the first quarter.

Spotify reported 0.97 euros of earnings per share on 3.64 billion euros of revenue. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had penciled in 0.65 euros per share and $3.61 billion euros of revenue.

Spotify’s gross margin of 27.6% was up from 25.2% in the same quarter a year ago.

— Jesse Pound

U.S. crude oil hit a session low of $80.89 a barrel Tuesday, the lowest level since late March.

The West Texas Intermediate futures contract for June also dipped below the 50-day moving average of $81.22 a barrel for the first time since early February.

WTI was last trading at $81.51 a barrel, down 39 cents, while the June Brent futures contract was last down 36 cents at at $86.64 a barrel.

Traders have have bid down prices after a runup early this month on fears that Iran and Israel were on the brink of war. Those fears have largely dissipated as the bitter enemies have signaled they are not interested in a wider war after trading tit-for-tat strikes this month.

The market was also unconcerned about looming oil sanctions on Iran. The House of Representatives passed legislation over the weekend that would target ports, vessels and refineries that accept Iranian oil. The Senate could take up the legislation this week.

— Spencer Kimball

Stocks opened higher on Tuesday, with Wall Street focused on a fresh slate of forthcoming tech earnings.

The S&P 500 added 0.4% shortly after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 124 points, or 0.3%.

— Brian Evans

Here are some of the names making moves before the bell:

• Novartis — Shares rallied 4.7% after the Swiss drugmaker topped expectations for its first quarter and raised its full-year guidance.
• General Motors — The automaker moved nearly 5% higher after reporting $2.62 per share on revenues of $43.01 billion for the first quarter. Analysts polled by LSEG expected $2.15 per share on revenues of $41.92 billion.
• Spotify — The stock jumped 8% after the music streaming company reported $3.64 billion in revenues for the first quarter, beating the LSEG consensus estimate of $3.61 billion.

To see more stocks moving in the premarket, read the full story here.

— Michelle Fox

United Parcel Service ticked 0.4% higher in Tuesday premarket trading after earnings per share topped Wall Street expectations.

UPS earned $1.43 per share in the first quarter excluding items, easily exceeding to consensus forecast of $1.29 from analysts polled by LSEG. On the other hand, revenue came in at $21.7 billion, under the $21.86 billion anticipated by analysts.

The Atlanta-based company also reiterated its full-year guidance on revenue, operating margins and capital expenditures.

— Alex Harring

European stocks opened higher Tuesday, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 index up 0.5% by 8:40 a.m. London time.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.5% to hit an all-time intraday high, while France’s CAC 40 was 0.2% higher, and Germany’s DAX up 0.7%.

Shares of Chinese bubble tea chain Chabaidao, officially listed as Sichuan Baicha Baidao Industrial, opened 10% lower in early trade on its trading debut in Hong Kong, before plunging more than 30%.

It is currently trading at HK$12.32, far below its IPO offer price of HK$17.50.

The IPO is Hong Kong’s largest listing so far this year. The company announced it had garnered net proceeds of 2.59 billion Hong Kong dollars ($330.5 million) from its IPO, before listing expenses.

Chabaidao offered 90% of its 147.7 million shares in a global offering, while the remainder 10% were offered in a public offer in Hong Kong.

However, the public offer was only 0.5 times subscribed, leading the firm to reallocate the remainder of the shares to the global offer, which was 1.11 times subscribed.

— Lim Hui Jie

The Japanese yen weakened to a fresh 34-year low against the U.S. dollar early Tuesday, hitting 154.85 against the greenback.

This is the weakest the currency has been since the mid-1990s, although it has strengthened marginally to 154.74 as of 9:18 a.m. Tokyo time.

The currency will be watched by the Bank of Japan as it meets Friday, although the central bank has not announced a level where it will intervene.

Australia’s business activity in April expanded at its fastest clip in 24 months, according to flash figures from S&P Global.

The country’s composite purchasing managers index came in at 53.6, compared to 53.3 in March.

Manufacturing PMI climbed to 49.9 from 47.3, just shy of the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction, while services PMI slipped slightly to 54.2 from 54.4.

— Lim Hui Jie

Check out the companies making headlines in after-hours trading.

• Nucor — Shares slid 6.3% after the steelmaker’s first-quarter results fell short of estimates and it issued a lackluster second-quarter outlook. First-quarter earnings of $3.46 per share fell below the FactSet consensus estimate of $3.67 in earnings per share. Revenue of $8.14 billion was weaker than the estimated $8.26 billion. Nucor expects lower second-quarter earnings, citing “decreased earnings of the steel mills segment, primarily due to lower average selling prices partially offset by modestly increased volumes.”
• Cleveland-Cliffs — The steel producer lost nearly 3%. Cleveland-Cliffs’ first-quarter results fell short of analysts’ expectations, with adjusted earnings of 18 cents per share on revenue of $5.2 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG estimated earnings of 22 cents per share and revenue of $5.35 billion.
• Cadence Design Systems — Shares dropped 8.9% after the software company issued poor second-quarter guidance. Cadence Design Systems forecast second-quarter earnings per share of $1.20 to $1.24, lower than the $1.43 per share expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue guidance between $1.03 billion and $1.05 billion also missed a FactSet consensus estimate of $1.11 billion.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

New home sales is anticipated to have risen by 1.2% in March, according to economists polled by Dow Jones. That would be a jump from a 0.3% decline in the prior month.

The data is set to release 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

— Sarah Min