Stocks opened higher Tuesday after strong earnings reports from Johnson & Johnson, Zions Bancorporation and other companies. Housing starts increased more than expected in March.

Zions rose 6 percent, the most of any company in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The Utah bank reported a first-quarter profit after posting a loss a year ago. It also said customers were getting better at paying back loans, allowing the bank to set aside less money to cover defaults.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 41 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,242. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 4 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,309. The Nasdaq composite rose 5, or 0.2 percent, to 2,740.

Health care heavyweight Johnson & Johnson rose 3 percent. The company beat Wall Street's earnings expectations and raised its full-year earnings forecast.

The Commerce Department reported that builders broke ground in March on the highest number of new homes in six months. Home construction rose 7.2 percent from February, more than analysts had expected.

Trucking company Paccar Inc. rose 5 percent after its income and revenues beat analysts' expectations.

Goldman Sachs' first-quarter income fell 72 percent after the bank paid $1.64 billion in dividends to redeem preferred shares it issued to billionaire investor Warren Buffett during the financial crisis.

The New York investment bank said Tuesday that it earned $908 million, or $1.56 per share, compared with $3.3 billion, or $5.59 a share in the first quarter of last year.

Excluding the dividend payment, earnings per common share were $4.38, beating the $3.95 per share forecast of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Revenue fell 7 percent to $11.9 billion on weakness in the bank's core businesses of trading stocks and bonds and advising clients. Goldman's stock fell 0.9 percent to $152.38 in late morning trading.

The Federal Reserve gave Goldman Sachs Group Inc. permission to repay Berkshire Hathaway last month. While the Fed's decision wasn't a surprise given Goldman's ever-widening profits since the financial crisis, it reflected how far Goldman and other major banks have progressed from the darkest days of September 2008.

At that time, Buffett, who is CEO of Berkshire, helped shore up confidence in Goldman Sachs by making a $5 billion investment in the company. Berkshire received preferred shares that paid a 10 percent annual dividend. Goldman's second-quarter earnings will likely be affected by the redemption, which occurred on April 18.

Shares in British luxury goods company Burberry Group PLC jumped Tuesday after the company reported strong second-half sales and predicted a full-year profit at the top end of market forecasts.

Burberry's popularity in the Asia Pacific region, particularly Hong Kong and Taiwan, led sales 33 percent higher in the six months to March 31, compared to a year earlier.

Chief Executive Angela Ahrendts said the company expects full-year pretax profit to be at the top end of market forecasts, or around 347 million pounds ($564 million).

"While the luxury industry faces global challenges in the year ahead, we remain confident in our team's ability to outperform, underpinned by the consistent execution of our key strategies," said Ahrendts in a trading update.

Retail revenues were 42 percent higher at 596 million pounds ($972 million), while wholesale revenues rose 14 percent to 214 million pounds ($349 million).

Shares in the company, known for its distinctive red, black and brown plaid fabric, were up 6 percent at 1,216 pence in midmorning trade on the London Stock Exchange.

Dollar Financial Corp. said Tuesday that it plans to offer 5 million shares of its common stock to help fund its purchase of a payday loan company in England.

Dollar Financial which offers financial services like check-cashing mostly to lower-income customers, didn't say in its news release how much it expects the offering to raise.

But it said it plans to lend the money to its subsidiary Dollar Financial U.K. Limited, which bought payday lender Purpose U.K. Holdings on Friday for $195 million using revolving credit.

Dollar Financial will grant the underwriters an option to buy up to 750,000 additional shares to cover over-allotments, if any. Credit Suisse Securities LLC and Nomura Securities International Inc. are serving as joint book runners.

The offering was announced after the markets closed Tuesday, and Dollar Financial's shares initially fell more than 4 percent after hours. They settled around $21.77, down 38 cents, or less than 2 percent