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(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose, after the biggest gain in more than a month for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, amid optimism over corporate earnings. Comcast Corp. advanced after increasing its stock buyback. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. climbed 2 percent as lower fuel prices helped boost profits in its railroad business. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. rallied 8 percent after it raised its full-year revenue outlook. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rose for a second day, while McDonald’s Corp. slipped as the fast- food giant unveiled its turnaround plan. The S&P 500 climbed 0.4 percent to 2,116.47 at 12:34 p.m. in New York, after posting a 0.4 percent weekly decline Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 66.09 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,090.15. The Russell 2000 Index rallied 0.6 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.5 percent.“With nothing negative coming from overseas, you’re seeing a continuation of the positive price action from Friday afternoon,” said Michael James, a Los Angeles-based managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities Inc. “We still have a pretty heavy slate of earnings this entire week, with a number of high-profile companies reporting, that’ll probably be the focus for the next several days.”
Of the S&P 500 members that have already released results this season, 73 percent beat profit projections and 49 percent topped sales estimates. Analysts have tempered their predictions for a corporate profit slump, now projecting a first-quarter drop of 0.4 percent, compared with April 17 calls for a 4.3 percent decline.

Factory Data

Factory orders jumped 2.1 percent in March, the biggest gain since July. Investors are watching the data for clues as to when the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates. The central bank left open the possibility of an increase this year even amid weak growth data. A private employment report is due on Wednesday, before the monthly jobs release on Friday. Economists forecast a 225,000 increase in April non-farm payrolls, and a one-tenth decline in the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent. If payroll growth returns to trend, forecasters and monetary policy makers will more firmly embrace the view that first-quarter weakness was transitory. Stocks pared a weekly loss on Friday to 0.4 percent, as Gilead Sciences Inc. and Expedia Inc. rallied after Thursday’s selloff in biotechnology and small-cap shares.

Banks Gain

Eight of the S&P 500’s 10 main groups climbed Monday. Utility companies jumped 1.2 percent, and health-care rallied a second day for the biggest two-session gain in seven weeks. Merck & Co. Inc. and Amgen Inc. advanced at least 1.3 percent. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index added 1.2 percent after rising 2.9 percent Friday. Hudson City Bancorp Inc. and merger partner M&T Bank Corp. led a bank rally, rising at least 1.5 percent. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. added 1.1 percent. Information technology companies in the S&P 500 gained, led by Cognizant Technology, which surged 8 percent. The provider of outsourcing services increased the most in almost three years after raising its 2015 sales and earnings forecasts. Xerox Corp. rose 1.8 percent.
Consumer discretionary stocks in the benchmark index climbed as Wynn Resorts Ltd. increased 3.7 percent. Comcast gained 1 percent, and earlier as much as 2.9 percent, after the cable provider’s first-quarter profit beat estimates, boosted by more Internet customers. It also plans to increase its stock buyback by 59 percent to $6.75 billion this year.

Chipmakers Slip

Energy companies in the benchmark gauge slid 0.4 percent. Transocean Ltd. and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. decreased more than 3 percent, while Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp. fell at least 1.2 percent. Diamond Offshore said it’s expecting a downturn in demand for offshore drilling to last at least through next year as customers cut spending amid the crude crash and new rigs continue to enter an oversupplied market. A Bloomberg gauge on U.S. airlines retreated 0.6 percent after jumping 3 percent Friday. Republic Airways Holdings Inc. lost 3.2 percent as preliminary first-quarter results missed estimates. Southwest Airlines Co. slumped 1.3 percent.
Semiconductor shares slipped as two of Friday’s biggest gainers, Altera Corp. and Micron Technology Inc., paced a drop, down at least 1.2 percent.

–With assistance from Roxana Zega in Zurich and Alan Soughley in Frankfurt.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joseph Ciolli in New York at jciolli@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net John Shipman