Gained on news from Apple

Stocks held onto modest gains after choppy morning. The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo said their builders’ sentiment index stayed at its highest level in close to five years. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, boosted by news from Apple, added a 0.8% gain. Apple climbed 2.7% after the co. said it would pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share and will buy back $10 billion of its own shares over the next three years. Google rose 1.4% after the co. announced that China has extended its review of Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility. Also, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley ended the day higher, following reports that the Federal Reserve made some minor corrections to its stress test results. After the market closed, Adobe fell 4.5% on drop in earnings. Implied volatility little changed on massive trading volumes.

All eyes on housing data

Stocks mostly declined, limiting weekly gains, after an index of consumer confidence unexpectedly fell to 74.3 in March, its first decline since August. Also, consumer prices rose 0.4% less than 0.5% increase expected. Core prices that remove volatile food and energy costs rose 0.1% versus expectations of a 0.2% uptick. Output of U.S. factories, mines and utilities held flat in February, while January production was revised up to 0.4% from an initial estimate of unchanged. Tech stocks finished with mixed results, with Apple closing just a penny higher on the day the co. released its latest version of the iPad. This week housing data will take center stage as several economic reports on housing prices, sales and construction are due out. Any signs that the real estate market is rebounding could keep the stock market rally going. Implied volatility fell to the 15 level on moderate trading volumes.

Finished higher despite weakness in Apple

Stocks finished higher, with the S&P 500 topping the 1,400 mark for the first time in nearly four years, as investors welcomed a batch of better-than-expected economic news. Weekly initial jobless claims fell to 351,000, compared to 365,000 the prior week and slightly less than the forecast of 355,000. Producer prices for February increased 0.4%, slightly less than the expected increase of 0.5%. The Empire Manufacturing survey for New York state rose to 20.2 in March, much higher than the reading of 15 expected. The Philly Fed’s Business Outlook Survey index climbed in March to its highest level since last April at 12.5. Tech stocks mostly closed with gains, while Apple fell back after flirting briefly with the $600 mark early in the session. Cisco Systems fell 1.41% after the co. said it would acquire NDS Group Ltd. for about $5 billion, including the taking on of debt. eBay gave up 2% after Credit Suisse cut its rating to neutral from outperform, citing the stock’s recent valuation levels. Advanced Micro Devices jumped more than 6% after Jefferies & Co. upgraded the stock to a buy rating. Implied volatility inched lower on massive trading volumes.