(Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose on Wednesday, heading for its third straight day of gains, as U.S. housing starts hit a four-year high, but weak results from tech bellwethers weighed on the Dow. Homebuilders climbed after data showed groundbreaking on new homes jumped 15 percent in September, the quickest pace since July 2008 and a sign the housing sector was supporting the economy.

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(Reuters) - Groundbreaking on new U.S. homes surged in September to its fastest pace in more than four years, a sign the housing sector's budding recovery is gaining traction and supporting the wider economic recovery. Housing starts increased 15 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 units, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

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(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp eked out a third-quarter profit even after taking $1.6 billion of litigation charges, as the second-largest U.S. bank set aside less money to cover bad loans. The bank posted a big jump in bond trading revenue, excluding accounting adjustments, and its mortgage banking revenue rose 25 percent.

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(Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday, helped by higher prices and lower interest expense, in a sign the beverage and snack company is progressing on its turnaround. This has been a transition year for the maker of Diet Pepsi, Frito-Lay snacks and Tropicana orange juice as it ramped up advertising and streamlined its portfolio and workforce to improve performance, especially in its North American drinks unit, which was losing market share to Coca-Cola.

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(Reuters) - In what amounted to a do-over on the subject of wealth and fairness, President Barack Obama took aim on Tuesday night at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's personal finances, his tax plan and his once-private comment about the "47 percent" of Americans who don't pay income taxes. Obama's aggressive approach on those issues contrasted sharply with his restraint in their first matchup in Denver on October 3, when he avoided entirely the now-famous 47 percent comment, taped at a fundraiser in May.

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(Reuters) - St. Jude Medical Inc (STJ.N) warned Wall Street that U.S. health regulators might issue a warning letter about one of its manufacturing facilities in California as it reported another weak quarterly performance and reeled in its outlook. St. Jude shares fell 5.7 percent to $40.48 in late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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(Reuters) - Stocks advanced on Monday as optimism about stronger-than-expected Citigroup earnings and retail sales, along with a rebound in energy shares, put investors in the mood to buy. Citigroup Inc (C.N) rose 4.5 percent to $36.32 and gave the biggest lift to the S&P 500 after the third-largest U.S. bank reported quarterly adjusted earnings that surged from the year-ago quarter and beat expectations. The growth came as mortgage lending increased and capital markets results rebounded.

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(Reuters) - Retail sales rose in September as Americans stepped up purchases of everything from cars to electronics, a sign that consumer spending is driving faster economic growth. Other U.S. data on Monday pointed to an economy feeling the effects of cooling global growth, with New York state factory activity shrinking in October.

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(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc made more money from trading in the third quarter, and its lending profitability rose, surprising investors and lifting the bank's shares 4.5 percent. Profit dropped after the third-largest U.S. bank wrote down the value of its retail brokerage business by $4.7 billion, but mortgage lending profit rose, and results overall were better than analysts on average had expected.

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(Reuters) - Japanese mobile operator Softbank Corp said it will buy about 70 percent of Sprint Nextel Corp, the third-largest U.S. carrier, for $20.1 billion - the most a Japanese firm has spent on an overseas acquisition. The deal, announced by Softbank's billionaire founder and chief Masayoshi Son and Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse at a packed news conference in Tokyo on Monday, gives Softbank entry into a U.S. market that is still growing, while Japan's market is stagnating.

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