Home Depot quarterly sales rise 6.4 percent

The food index grew 0.1% and energy index gained 0.3% while gasoline index jumped 0.4% followed by sharply decline in August and September, the Department of Labor said.

Tollbooth Index increased 55.85 or 0.5% to 10,834.72. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC declined 0.02 percent to 4,983.66.

GNC Holdings plunged 24 percent, Vitamin Shoppe fell almost 8 percent and Herbalife 3 percent.

MANUFACTURING BELLWETHER: The Federal Reserve said that USA manufacturing output rose 0.4 percent in October, the first gain in three months, as factories cranked out more steel, cars and computers. The home improvement retailer reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, meeting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.71.

Consumers spent more on houses, home improvement products, appliances and autos than on discretionary items such as apparel in the August-October quarter, analysts have said.

BEATING EXPECTATIONS: The TJX Cos. rose 3.4 percent after the parent of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and other stores reported better-than-expected sales at established stores in the third quarter.

But Walmart also scaled back its growth projection for the fourth quarter to 1%, citing increased competition. Tuesday’s rise added to strong gains on Monday, when the S&P 500 climbed 1.5%.

New sales were up 6.4% to end the quarter at $21.82 billion, which was almost the same as Wall Street estimates of $21.83 billion.

USA stocks forfeited gains today after a soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands was called off over fears of a bombing. For example, if a company forecasts future profitability, the estimated P/E will be lower than the current P/E. P/E is calculated by dividing the market price per share by the expected earnings per share, and also referred to as price-to-earnings.

In Paris, CAC 40 index soared 114.21 or 2.4% to 4,918.52. Tokyo stocks rose on expectations of further stimulus measures by Japan’s central bank.

Greece achieved preliminary deal with its worldwide lenders on home foreclosures reform, thus easing the stalemate in its bailout program.

DIMMED OPTIMISM: The latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index slipped this month. Its return on investment is now 25.80% and its debt to equity is now 2.24. Its shares rose nearly 4 percent in midday trading Tuesday.

The company also doesnt expect any lasting impact on its business following the recent terrorist attacks. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

“Nobody wanted to put a lot of risk into their portfolio yesterday, but the turnaround in oil helped restore a few confidence”, said Guy Foster, head of research at wealth manager Brewin Dolphin.BRW 0.93 % .

The Nikkei index rebounded 1.2% following an Asian-wide rally after the US indexes gained in an overnight trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,464 as of 3:18 p.m. Eastern Time.

In Tokyo trading, commodities and resource sector stocks led the gainers after crude oil extended gains for the second day in a row and increased 2.2%.