NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Tuesday morning as technology and industrial stocks recover some of the big losses they took over the last month. Companies including CVS Health and Booking Holdings, the parent company of Priceline.com, are rising after releasing strong third-quarter reports. Stocks have settled down in the last few days as traders wait for results from the midterm elections in the U.S.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index rose 8 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,747 as of noon Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 108 points, or 0.4 percent, to 25,578. The Nasdaq composite picked up 30 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7,360. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,549.
Stocks dropped in October and recovered a sliver of their gains during a three-day rally last week. Since then they've made smaller moves as investors anticipate the outcome of the midterm elections. Control of the House of Representatives and Senate are up for grabs and 36 governorships are being contested. Investors will be watching to see how the vote might influence U.S. trade, economic and security policies.
Stocks tend to fall before midterm elections and then rally once the voting is over. The S&P 500 has generated an average price return of 16.7 percent in the 12 months after midterm elections since 1946, according to CFRA.
CVS HAS THE RECEIPTS: Drugstore and pharmacy benefits manager CVS Health rose 4.3 percent to $76.88 after its results topped Wall Street forecasts in the third quarter. It was helped by a large bump in prescriptions. CVS also said it expects to complete its purchase of health insurer Aetna before the Thanksgiving holiday.
BOOK 'EM: Booking Holdings also surpassed estimates in the latest quarter and gave stronger-than-expected projections for the current quarter. The stock rose 4.8 percent to $1,960 and competitor TripAdvisor picked up 4.6 percent to $55.68.
DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION: Rental car company Avis sank 5.1 percent to $29.47 after its profit and sales disappointed investors. The stock has slumped 33 percent this year.
Prescription drug distributor AmerisourceBergen fell 7.8 percent to $81.64 after its sales came up short of analyst forecasts.
DEALS SWIRLING: Symantec rallied after the security software company announced two purchases. Symantec said it bought business technology company Javelin and mobile security company Appthority. It didn't disclose terms of either deal. Shares of Symantec rose further after Reuters reported that private equity firm Thoma Bravo is interested in buying the company. The stock was up 14.3 percent at $22.89 in midday trading.
Other technology companies also rose. Apple gained 1 percent to $203.67 after it fell 9 percent over the past two days.
MATERIALS WORLD: Materials companies jumped after results from fertilizer maker Mosaic and granite, limestone, sand and gravel seller Martin Marietta Materials. Mosaic rose 6.5 percent to $34.31 after it raised its annual profit forecast, and Martin Marietta climbed 7.8 percent to $188.47. Construction materials company Vulcan gained 4.9 percent to $105.53.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 2.6 percent to $61.45 a barrel in New York, and Brent crude dipped 2.5 percent to $71.33 a barrel in London.
BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.21 percent from 3.19 percent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 113.37 yen from 113.21 yen. The euro fell to $1.1412 from $1.1418.
OVERSEAS: Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.9 percent as leaders from Britain and the European Union remained deadlocked over the issue of Ireland's borders, a critical part of Britain's impending departure from the EU. The two sides are trying to find a way to make sure there are no customs posts or other checks on the border between Ireland, which is part of the EU, and Northern Ireland, which will leave the group along with the rest of the U.K.
In France, the CAC 40 fell 0.4 percent. Germany's DAX was little changed.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.1 percent and the Kospi in South Korea added 0.6 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng bounced gained 0.7 percent.
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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP
