Stocks rose Tuesday as quarterly results from Home Depot and a positive U.S. housing-market report gave investors a reason to buy shares after a two-session decline. In economic news, both U.S. housing starts and builder permits—a gauge of future activity—fell unexpectedly in July, but starts of single-family homes rose 1.7 percent, advancing for the fifth consecutive month and at the fastest pace since October. A second report showed that U.S. wholesale inflation fell 0.9 percent in July after rising 1.8 percent the previous month. The decline was attributed to falling energy and food prices. Excluding energy and food, core wholesale prices fell 0.1 percent last month. --MORE
