U.S. stocks tilted higher at Tuesday's start after the government reported an as-expected drop in gross domestic product for the third quarter and as investors awaited reports on the troubled housing market. "The data are roughly in line with expectations and shouldn't have any effect on prices, especially as Q3 is old news," said analysts at Action Economics. After declining the last four sessions, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU: 8,519.69, -59.42, -0.7%) rose 36.08 points to 8,555.85 in the early going, with 20 of its 30 components posting initial gains. The S&P 500 ($SPX: 875.38, +3.75, +0.4%) climbed 4.2 points to 875.83, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP: 1,543.76, +11.41, +0.7%) gained 9.38 points to 1,541.73. Materials, energy and telecommunication services led early sector gains among the S&P's 10 industry groups, while the consumer discretionary and information technology sectors faltered. U.S. real GDP for the third quarter fell at a 0.5% annualized rate, unrevised from the previous estimate, the Commerce Department said. The contraction was in line with economists' expectations. Read Economic Report. Shares of CIT Group Inc. (CIT: 4.31, +0.13, +3.1%) gained 1.9% after the commercial-finance company said it had preliminary approval for an investment of about $2.33 billion as part of the Treasury Department's Troubled Assets Relief Program. Shares of Textron Inc. (TXT: 13.58, -1.76, -11.5%) lapsed 12.7% after it late Monday lowered its adjusted fourth-quarter earnings outlook and said it would trim about 5% of its worldwide workforce. Discussions between Walt Disney Co. (DIS: 22.19, +0.26, +1.2%) and Hong Kong officials are under way over the possible expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland, which may include adding attractions that would be unique to the Hong Kong venue, The Wall Street Journal reported. See full story. Also in the headlines, General Dynamics Corp. (GD: 55.36, -0.12, -0.2%) said late Monday its Electric Boat unit and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC: 43.25, +0.10, +0.2%) , received a $14 billion contract from the U.S. Navy to build eight Virginia-class submarines. Unisys Corp. (UIS: 0.57, +0.04, +7.6%) , trading as a penny stock, advanced 7.4% after its late Monday announcement that it would act to reduce costs, with the steps to include laying off about 1,300 workers. In energy, crude-oil futures climbed slightly higher, with the contract for February delivery up 41 cents at $40.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Read Futures Movers. In foreign-exchange trading, the dollar weakened against the euro, with the common currency up 0.2% at $1.3973. Asian markets dropped sharply Tuesday in thin trading as investors rushed to take profits ahead of the holidays. European markets advanced.

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