Stocks Close Up After Initial Claims, Home Sales

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks closed higher on Wednesday, as investors gave thanks for better-than-expected new-home sales and jobless claims, and as surging metal-related stocks helped offset sluggish financial shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 31 points, or 0.3%, to 10,464. The S&P 500 added 5 points, or 0.5%, to 1111 and the Nasdaq gained 7 points, or 0.3%, to 2176.

Materials and consumer discretionary stocks led advancers today, though the financial segment lagged a bit. The KBW Bank Index slid by 0.2%, as JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) and Bank of America(BAC Quote) shed 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively.

Kraft(KFT Quote) shares suffered the largest decline on the Dow, down 1.5%. Caterpillar(CAT Quote) and Boeing(BA Quote) were helping offset those losses, adding 1.8% and 1.9%, respectively.

After the market close, American International Group(AIG Quote) and former Chairman Hank Greenberg announced a settlement to their long-standing legal disputes. The parties, including former chief financial officer Howard Smith, agreed to release each other from all claims. AIG will also pay as much as $150 million in Greenberg and Smith's legal bills, which will ultimately be determined by an independent third party.

Stocks made modest gains following a flurry of morning economic reports. New-home sales surged 6.2% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 430,000 in October, which was better than the modest growth of 0.5% that economists expected. The median sales price of $212,200 climbed 1% from the previous month and was nearly unchanged from a year ago, according to the Commerce Department.

The data add to mounting evidence that the housing market is gradually improving. Earlier in the week, existing-home sales came in better than expected, and home prices rose for the second consecutive quarter.