Stocks boosted by housing, consumer confidence reports

NEW YORK -- Investors Tuesday seemed to brush off Caterpillar Inc.’s declining profit outlook and continuing uncertainty over the European debt crisis.

Major U.S. stock indexes were up about 0.4% in midday trading on Wall Street, following a report showing home prices in the nation’s largest cities rose 1.6% in July to their highest level in nearly two years. The Confidence Board, meanwhile, reported consumer confidence improved in September.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 53 points, or 0.4%, to 13,612. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5 points, or 0.4%, to 1,462. The Nasdaq was up 14 points, or 0.5%, to 3,175.

Investors have been expecting disappointing corporate earnings, and Caterpillar, the construction and mining equipment giant, is among the latest companies to cut its profit forecast.

“We’ve seen a slowing in economic growth that was more than we expected,” Doug Oberhelman, chairman and chief executive, told analysts Monday, according to Bloomberg News. “We think ’13 could look like 2012 in terms of worldwide economic growth.”

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