U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, as investors cheered upbeat earnings and gobbled up shares of beaten-down Internet stocks. In international economic news, European markets closed more than 1 percent higher. Russian stocks rose and the ruble firmed against the dollar as investors shrugged off the latest round of U.S. and EU sanctions imposed this week over the crisis in Ukraine. The sanctions were not as severe as expected. The British pound pushed higher, trading at its highest level against the U.S. dollar since August 2009, as gross domestic product (GDP) data showed U.K. growth accelerated to 0.8 percent in the first quarter. Asian markets closed mixed. The two major indexes in China logged gains, while Japan's Nikkei declined by 1 percent. The dollar lost ground against the euro, the pound, and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for June delivery added 44 cents to $101.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures dropped $2.70 to $1,296.30 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 86.63, or 0.53 percent, to 16,535.37. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index moved up 8.9, or 0.48 percent, to 1,878.33. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 29.14, or 0.72 percent, to 4,103.54.
