U.S. stocks build gains on housing data
Retailers including Home Depot, Macy’s support Wall Street

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks rose Tuesday, recouping much of the prior day’s slide, as evidence of a solid finish for housing in 2012 and after Ben Bernanke defended the Fed’s monetary policy.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) shares rallied after the retailer raised its dividend and approved a $17 billion stock buyback.

“The market is bouncing back after yesterday’s big decline; the other part of it is we get a bit of a bounce from Bernanke’s comments along the lines of continued QE [quantitative easing],” Paul Nolte, managing director at Dearborn Partners in Chicago, said of the Federal Reserve chairman’s testimony on Capitol Hill.
After losing 216.40 points in Monday’s session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI JIA) on Tuesday tallied its second triple-digit rise in three sessions, adding 115.96 points, or 0.8%, to 13,900.13. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-st...2013-02-26