North American stocks rose at the start of trading on Tuesday, boosted by upbeat earnings reports from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 37 points or 0.3 per cent, to 12,239. The broader S&P 500 rose 4 points or 0.3 per cent, to 1309. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 2 points, to 13,705.
Goldman Sachs rose 0.5 per cent after it reported a 21 per cent dip in its quarterly earnings that nonetheless topped analysts' expectations. Earnings in the first quarter were $2.7-billion (U.S.) or $1.56 a share, nearly double the 82 cents expected. Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. rising 1.8 per cent.
Johnson & Johnson rose 3 per cent after it reported quarterly earnings that were 23 per cent below last year's results. However, the earnings of $3.4-billion or $1.25 a share also beat expectations.
In other moves, Caterpillar Inc. and Alcoa Inc. rose 1.5 per cent each, while Intel Corp. rose 1 per cent.
Among Canadian stocks, Teck Resources Ltd. rose 4.6 per cent after the miner reported earnings of $461-million or 78 cents a share.
The price of crude oil continued to decline, following Monday's retreat, hitting $105.82 a barrel, which weighed on energy producers. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. fell 0.3 per cent. Gold producers were also weak, with Barrick Gold Corp. down 1.3 per cent.
Research In Motion Ltd. fell 1.1 per cent after its long-awaited PlayBook tablet computer went on sale.
David Berman