Tech, household goods gain

U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday as retailers, technology and household goods companies all made solid gains and helped the market shake off a weak start.

Stocks skidded at the start of trading as investors sold some recent favorites including Facebook and Apple. But those stocks later recovered and Netflix narrowed its losses after disappointing investors with low subscriber growth.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress the Fed believes the economy will stay strong and inflation will remain at around 2 percent for the next few years. Stocks have fallen previous times Powell gave major addresses, but they didn’t Tuesday.

Financial services company Charles Schwab and regional bank Comerica both rose.

Companies that sell clothing, food and household goods made solid gains. Ralph Lauren advanced 2.6 percent to $133.30 and PepsiCo climbed 1.7 percent to $114.88. Amazon as it said sales in the first hours of its annual Prime Day promotion improved in spite of website problems. The stock rose 1.2 percent to $1,843.93.

FCC questions Sinclair merger

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed $3.9 billion purchase of Chicago-based Tribune Media may be in jeopardy after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued a statement Monday expressing “serious concerns” about the deal.

“The evidence we’ve received suggests that certain station divestitures that have been proposed to the FCC would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name, in violation of the law,” Pai said in the statement. “When the FCC confronts disputed issues like these, the Communications Act does not allow it to approve a transaction.”

Pai suggested referring the disputed issues to an administrative law judge for a hearing.

Hunt Valley, Maryland-based Sinclair agreed to buy Tribune Media’s 42 TV stations in May 2017, creating what would be the largest ownership group in the U.S. with 233 stations. Sinclair agreed to sell off a number of stations to comply with FCC ownership restrictions, but Pai’s memo questions the company’s plans to continue controlling several divested stations through so-called sidecar agreements with third parties. The plan for Tribune-owned WGN-Ch. 9 in Chicago may be the most prominent of those deals.

The proposed Sinclair-Tribune Media merger has faced a groundswell of opposition from liberal groups and media watchdogs over concerns that Sinclair’s right-leaning editorial views would unduly influence local news at Tribune’s stations. Others have objected on the basis of media concentration.

Tribune Media spokesman Gary Weitman declined to comment Monday. Sinclair representatives also declined.