The Dow climbed higher for the fourth-straight day and nearly turned positive year-to-date on Tuesday as a new housing report kept Wall Street's hopes for an economic recovery alive. 

Today’s Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19.43 points, or 0.22%, to 8740.87, the Standard & Poor's 500 added 1.92 points, or 0.20%, to 944.79 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 8.12 points, or 0.44%, to 1836.80. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 gained 2.53 points, or 0.37%, to 690.11.

While the gains were nothing to write home about, some were impressed Wall Street managed to build on a three-day rally that had added more than 400 points to the Dow. In fact, just a day ago the index soared more than 200 points in the face of the collapse of General Motors (GM).

“When you can hold your ground after a very important day that breaks through technical resistance, that’s considered a positive,” said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. “These kind of days are important and considered continuation patterns.”

Tuesday's slight gains nearly pushed the Dow into the green for 2009. Still, the index is up 33% since early March on hopes the U.S. economy will return to growth later this year.

“I’m still puzzled at the move. But I’ve been saying this for weeks and I’ve been wrong for weeks,” said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of trading at Themis Trading, pointing to the still-weak labor markets and the fallout of GM’s bankruptcy. “I’m going to stay cautious and bearish because someone has to be, right?”

Aluminum maker Alcoa (AA) and Boeing (KO) led the way up on the Dow on Tuesday. The biggest percentage losers on the benchmark index included GM, which was de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, and American Express (AXP).

Wall Street received more evidence the economy is slowly healing as the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales jumped 6.7% in April -- blowing away expectations for a 0.5% rise. The industry group cited low home prices and record low mortgage interest rates. The better-than-expected report sent home building stocks like Centex (CTX) and Hovnanian (HOV) higher.

Tumbling bank stocks helped counter the economic enthusiasm. The financial sector slid 1.6% after JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS) and American Express sold nearly $8 billion of common equity in an effort to prove they no longer need government assistance. While the markets generally look at this as a positive, the fundraising efforts tend to flood the markets with excess supply, sending financials sliding.

The markets received more reminders of the depressed auto market as a slew of auto makers reported double-digit percentage declines. However, GM and Ford (F) posted their best sales figures since last summer, reporting better-than-expected annual sales declines of 29.6% and 24.2% respectively. Toyota (TM) said its sales were off by 38.4% from a year ago, while Chrysler topped estimates with a 47% slide.

Meanwhile, the weak dollar continues to benefit multinationals. Stocks like PepsiCo (PEP) climbed as the dollar slumped 1% against the Euro.

In the commodity markets, crude oil finally cooled off, bringing its six-day win streak to a halt. A day after soaring $2 to fresh 2009 highs, crude closed down 3 cents per barrel, or 0.04%, to $68.55.

Corporate Movers

General Motors (GM) said it has reached a preliminary agreement to sell its Hummer brand to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong, a little known heavy machinery company. GM said it sees closing the transaction by the end of the third quarter. 

EMC (EMC) entered a bidding war by offering to buy data storage company Data Domain (NDUP) for $1.8 billion -- 20% higher than rival NetApp (NTAP) offered.

Oracle (ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison said at a conference Tuesday the software giant is considering making netbooks and other devices.

Bank of America (BAC) said it will “comfortably exceed” its government mandate to raise $33.9 billion to plug a gap in its balance sheet. The bank said non-government preferred holders will swap $9.5 billion of preferred shares for common equity.

KeyCorp (KEY) touched a 52-week low after the regional bank said it plans to up its share offering to $1 billion.

DeVry (DV) saw its shares rise a day after Standard & Poor’s announced the education company will replace GM in the S&P 500.

Global Markets

European markets ended mixed as London's FTSE 100 tumbled 0.65% to 4477.02 and France's CAC 40 slipped 0.04% to 3378.04 but Germany's DAX rose 0.03% to 5144.06. 

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.27% to 9704.31, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled  2.64% to 18389.08 and China's Shanghai Composite climbed 0.11% to 2724.30.