Shares on Wall St. Move Mostly Higher

Buoyed by good news on housing starts, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose on Wednesday, heading for its third consecutive day of gains.

Shares of home builders climbed after the Commerce Department said new home construction jumped 15 percent in September, the quickest pace since July 2008, providing a fresh sign of reliance in the housing sector.

Weak results from high-technology bellwethers weighed on the Dow, however. Shares in Intel and I.B.M. fell on Wednesday as investors reacted to earnings reports issued on Tuesday.

Intel offered a weak outlook for fourth-quarter revenue, and its shares dropped 3.2 percent. I.B.M. posted third-quarter revenue that failed to meet analysts’ expectations, leading to a decline of almost 5 percent in its share price. The companies weighed heavily on the Dow and Nasdaq.

In afternoon trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was up about 0.4 percent, while the Dow Jones industrial average was down about 0.1 percent. The Nasdaq composite was up 0.3 percent.

Shares of Bank of America, the second-largest American bank by assets after JPMorgan Chase, was 0.5 percent higher after it reported break-even results that exceeded analysts’ estimates.

This week, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs had indicated improvement in the financial sector by posting strong results, but JPMorgan and Wells Fargo disappointed investors.

“There was a lot of pessimism going into earnings season, but over all I’m happy with what I’m seeing,” said Scott B. Schermerhorn, chief investment officer at Granite Investment Advisors in Concord, N.H. “Things seem to be improving for banks.”

He added: “I.B.M. and Intel were weak, but it isn’t surprising to see such globally exposed companies hit by weakness in Europe and emerging markets.”

Toll Brothers, the home builder, rose 4.4 percent on Wednesday as a result of the news on housing starts, while D.R. Horton gained 5.6 percent.

Equities are coming off their best two-day advance in a month, a rise of 1.8 percent. Those gains came as some disappointments early in the earnings season were offset by strong results from bellwethers like Johnson & Johnson.

Still, the first reports from companies in the technology sector, which is closely monitored for what it reveals about business spending, suggested reasons for caution.

Earnings for companies in the S.&P. 500 are expected to fall 2.3 percent from the quarterly reports of a year earlier, with the main culprit being the slowing global economy. But the latest forecast does signal a slight improvement from estimates last week, according to Thomson Reuters data.