DJI- NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose for the third consecutive day on Wednesday after housing starts hit a four-year high, but the Dow was weighed down by IBM after it posted weak revenue.
Homebuilders' shares led gains after the Commerce Department said groundbreaking on new homes jumped 15 percent in September, the quickest pace since July 2008. The surge in housing starts was viewed as evidence that the housing sector's fledgling recovery is bolstering the recovery of the broader economy.
The PHLX Housing Index .HGX rose 2.9 percent.
International Business Machines Corp IBM.N was a notable disappointment after the company said revenue fell short of expectations. The stock dropped 4.9 percent, exerting an 81-point drag on the Dow industrials. IBM has an outsized influence on the Dow, which is a price-weighted index. IBM's stock closed at $200.63.
Intel Corp INTC.O, the world's largest chipmaker, lost 2.5 percent to end at $21.79 a day after giving a weak revenue outlook. The S&P technology sector index .GSPT slid 0.8 percent and ranked as the only loser among the S&P 500's 10 industry sectors on Wednesday.
Although it's still early in the earnings season, the results have been a bit better than anticipated. Fourteen percent of S&P 500 companies have already reported earnings, and of those companies, 65 percent have beaten analysts' expectations, ahead of the long-term average of 62 percent.
"The results are just not that bad at all. And whenever people begin to get too far in one direction - meaning earnings are going to be terrible - generally reality is better than that, and we are seeing that now," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.
According to Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday afternoon, quarterly earnings for S&P 500 components are now expected to fall 1.7 percent from a year ago, a modest improvement in expectations from a forecast for a drop of 2.3 percent earlier in the week.
Bank of America BAC.N shares fell 0.2 percent to $9.44 after the second-largest U.S. bank reported that it earned just $340 million during the quarter, down 95 percent from the year-ago period. The bank also said it had provided $4.75 billion in first lien principal reductions and expected to meet total obligations within the first year of the National Mortgage Settlement.
"For the financials, the bar was set very low. They topped the bar, but we didn't get a nice tailwind from post-announcement conference calls," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co., in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 5.22 points, or 0.04 percent, to 13,557 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 5.99 points, or 0.41 percent, to finish at 1,460.91. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC advanced 2.95 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 3,104.12.
Over the past three days, the S&P 500 has gained 2.3 percent - its best three-day advance in more than a month. The benchmark index is now just 0.33 percent off its 2012 closing high.
After the bell, shares of Ebay EBAY.O slipped 0.5 percent to $47.95 following the release of its results. The stock ended the regular session at $48.20, off just 0.08 percent.
Shares of American Express AXP.N fell 0.6 percent to $59 after the bell after the company said third-quarter profit rose only marginally as cardmembers reined in their spending. American Express, a Dow component, closed on Wednesday at $59.37, up 1.3 percent in regular trading.
Among Wednesday's biggest losers during the regular session was Apollo Group Inc APOL.O, which plunged 22.2 percent to close at an 11-year low of $21.40. Shares of Apollo, the owner of the University of Phoenix, the largest U.S. for-profit college, fell after the company forecast a weak 2013 and announced new student sign-ups fell 14 percent for the fourth quarter ended Aug. 31.
Apollo said it would save $300 million by fiscal year 2014 by cutting jobs and shutting half of its University of Phoenix learning sites.
ASML ASML.AS, the world's leading chip gear maker, agreed to buy Cymer CYMI.O - its key supplier of a light-based technology crucial to making a new generation of much smaller and smarter chips - for $2.5 billion. Cymer's stock soared 49.4 percent to $71.45. In contrast, the U.S.-listed shares of ASML ASML.O dropped 6.5 percent to $50.08.
Volume was roughly 6.3 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with the year-to-date average daily closing volume of 6.51 billion.
NYMEX-NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures edged up on Wednesday in choppy trading, supported by strong housing data that lifted the S&P 500 stocks index and a weaker dollar, recovering after crude oil prices felt pressure from data showing rising U.S. crude stockpiles.
U.S. crude and gasoline inventories rose last week, while distillate stocks fell, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a report on Wednesday.
CBOT SOYBEAN- Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose for a second day on bargain buying after this week's drop to a 3-1/2 month low, traders said.
* Additional support from a weaker dollar, which fell against the euro on brighter prospects for resolving Spain's debt woes and whetted investors' appetite for riskier assets, including agricultural commodities.
• Talk of continued export demand from top soy buyer China lent support, with traders and analysts expecting USDA on Thursday to report weekly U.S. export sales of soybeans at 650,000 to 850,000 tonnes.
• Gains limited by prospects for a bumper 2013 soy crop in South America. A cold front pushing north across Brazil should bring three straight days of rainfall to the country's top soy-producing state this week, local forecaster Somar said.
• Monsanto Co said it has temporarily stopped charging royalties on its Roundup Ready soybean seeds throughout Brazil as it seeks to overturn a state court ruling on the matter.
FCPO- KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended higher in rangebound trade on Wednesday, as rising exports offset analyst expectations that the market will fall further on high stocks.
Palm oil futures have lost 22 percent so far this year, prompting top analyst Dorab Mistry to forecast at a conference on Tuesday that prices could fall to 2,200 ringgit in the next four to six weeks on a record build-up in Malaysian stocks.
But exports in the first half of October have climbed as much as 16.3 percent from a month ago, signalling strong buying interest from the likes of the European Union and Pakistan, data from a cargo surveyor showed.
"The market is digesting all the news and views spoken yesterday, it will remain rangebound until more is known about demand," said a trader with a local commodities brokerage in Malaysia.
The benchmark January contract FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange edged up 0.2 percent to close at 2,471 ringgit ($814) per tonne, after trading in a tight range of 2,456-2,489 ringgit.
Total traded volumes stood at 44,600 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.
Technical analysis showed that palm oil remained neutral, trapped in a range of 2,361-2,528 ringgit per tonne, said Reuters analyst Wang Tao.
Another trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia said the upcoming U.S. presidential elections have made global investors more cautious.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney clashed repeatedly on jobs and energy.
While market reaction in Asia has been muted, U.S. investors are likely to focus on the outcome as it gives an idea on the kind of economic and financial policies that may come into play after the polls.
"The U.S markets are quiet because of the presidential election next month, so people are watching carefully. That's why the (palm oil) market can't move," the Malaysian trader said.
Palm oil mostly takes its cues from U.S. soyoil and Brent crude, as it competes with the edible oil for food demand and the crude oil grade for use in the energy sector.
Brent crude oil fell on Wednesday as lingering worry about the global economy overshadowed relief that Spain avoided a ratings downgrade and optimism prompted by firm U.S. corporate results. O/R
U.S. soyoil for December delivery BOZ2 inched up 0.4 percent in late Asian trade after earlier losses on expectations of higher soybean supplies in the Americas.
The most active January 2013 soybean oil contract DBYF3 on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed 0.1 percent higher.
REGIONAL EQUITY-BANGKOK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Philippine stocks finished at the highest close in more than a week on Wednesday amid buying in large-caps such as conglomerate SM Investments Corp SM.PS while Thai stocks ended at over one-week closing high as telecoms rallied after winning 3G bids.
After a choppy session, the Philippine index .PSI rose 0.7 percent to the highest close since Oct. 5 while Bangkok's SET index .SETI gained 1.1 percent to the highest close since Oct. 8, led by a 4.6 percent gain in telecoms company Advanced Info Service Pcl ADVA.BK.
Broad market sentiment lifted after a surprise rate cut from the Bank of Thailand. Asia Plus Securities analyst Therdsak Taveeteeratham said low rate environment lifted sentiment for property shares, with the biggest Land & Houses Pcl LH.BK up 3.5 percent.
Among weak spots, Singapore's Straits Times Index .FTSTI slipped 0.04 percent, erasing early gains, while the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange's VN index .VNI fell 0.6 percent after Tuesday's 1.96 percent gain.
