The main US stock indexes finished trading on the positive territory, helped by the rise in the price of shares of technology companies, as well as high incomes of Netflix (NFLX) and UnitedHealth (UNH), which raised optimism that the current season of reports will be the strongest in seven years.

In addition, as reported by the Ministry of Trade, housing starts in the US at a seasonally adjusted annual rate amounted to 1.32 million in March, which is 2% more than in February. Permissions were a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.35 million units. In March, builders laid the foundations for more homes, and earlier estimates were revised upward, indicating that the impetus in the housing construction industry is greater than previously noted. Housing starts for new homes exceeded forecasts of economists, who were expecting 1.323 million units.Housing starts were 10.9% higher than the same period a year ago. Also strong were the resolutions that predict future activity: 2.5% higher than in February, and 7.5% higher than a year ago.

In addition, the Fed said that industrial production rose 0.5 percent in March after rising 1.0 percent in February. Economists had expected that production would increase by 0.4 percent. The larger increase than expected in industrial production was partly due to a rebound in utility production, which rose 3.0 percent after falling by 5.0 percent in February amid higher temperatures. Meanwhile, manufacturing in manufacturing grew by 0.1 percent in March after a 1.5 percent drop in February. The report also says that capacity utilization in the industrial sector increased to 78.0 percent in March from 77.7 percent in February. It was expected that the use of capacity will reach 77.9 percent.

Most components of the DOW index finished trading in positive territory (24 out of 30). The leader of growth was UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH, + 3.56%). Outsider were the shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS, -1.22%).

All sectors of S & P recorded a rise. The technological sector grew most (+ 2.0%).

At closing:

Dow 24,789.35 +216.31 +0.88%

S&P 500 2,706.38 +28.54 +1.07%

Nasdaq 100 7,281.10 +124.81 +1.74%

U.S. stock-index futures rose on Monday, as solid quarterly results from Goldman Sachs (GS; +1.4%), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ; +1.1%), UnitedHealth (UNH; +2.8%) and Netflix (NFLX; +7.2%) boosted investors' optimism and confirmed reasonableness of their expectations that Q1 earnings season could be the strongest in seven years.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Int'l Paper (IP) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts

Twitter (TWTR) upgraded to Equal-Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley

Merck (MRK) upgraded to Overweight from Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley

Coca-Cola (KO) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman

Walt Disney (DIS) upgraded to Hold from Sell at Pivotal Research

Goldman Sachs (GS) reported Q1 FY 2018 earnings of $6.95 per share (versus $5.15 in Q1 FY 2017), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $5.57.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $10.036 bln (+25.0% y/y), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $8.727 bln.

The company also raised dividend 6.7% to $0.80/share.

GS rose to $260.00 (+0.82%) in pre-market trading.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported Q1 FY 2018 earnings of $2.06 per share (versus $1.83 in Q1 FY 2017), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $2.00.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $20.009 bln (+12.6% y/y), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $19.497 bln.

The company also issued guidance for FY 2018, projecting EPS of $8.00-8.20 (versus analysts' consensus estimate of $8.10) at revenues of $81.0-81.8 bln (versus analysts' consensus estimate of $81.18 bln and its prior guidance of $80.6-81.4 bln).

JNJ rose to $133.25 (+1.13%) in pre-market trading.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reported Q1 FY 2018 earnings of $3.04 per share (versus $2.37 in Q1 FY 2017), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $2.91.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $55.188 bln (+13.3% y/y), generally in-line with analysts' consensus estimate of $54.899 bln.

The company also issued in-line guidance for FY 2018, projecting EPS of $12.40-12.65 versus analysts' consensus estimate of $12.54, and above prior guidance of $12.30-12.60.

UNH fell to $230.00 (-0.14%) in pre-market trading.

Asian stock markets struggled for direction Tuesday morning, though beaten-up equities in Hong Kong and China got a lift from news of better-than-expected economic growth in the mainland.

European stocks ended lower on Monday, as traders weighed the limited strikes on the Syrian regime over the weekend and the potential for additional U.S. sanctions against Russia.

U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Monday, with major indexes rallying in a broad advance as the first-quarter earnings season pointed to strong growth and geopolitical tensions showed signs of easing.