国际英语新闻：U.S. stocks end higher, Dow seeing 7th straight gain

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average seeing gains for the seventh day in a row, as investors shrugged off the interest rate hike in China and were encouraged by positive earnings.

The Dow rose 71.52 points, or 0.59 percent, to 12,233.15, making its longest series of gains since July.

McDonald's Corp. was the biggest gainer of the 30 components in the Dow, rising 2.6 percent after reporting January sales that were higher than analysts expected. Another major boosting component American Express rose 2.37 percent.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 5.52 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,324.57 and the Nasdaq was up 13.06 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,797.05.

Among the key S&P 500 sectors, consumer discretionary and financials were higher, while energy and utilities slipped.

China's central bank said it would raise interest rates for the third time since last October to address the high inflation. This news pressured the stocks at the beginning, but faded out quickly as the market sentiment was boosted by series of positive earnings.

In the day's earnings news, the world's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp. reported a 47.6 percent drop in quarterly profit, hit by slumping Japanese car sales and a strong yen, but raised its full-year profit forecast to 490 billion yen, leading its share to a gain of 4.04 percent. And a U.S. official investigation report said on Tuesday, unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles was rooted in mechanical flaws rather than electronic defects, which also bolstered the confidence in the automaker's share.