Dow And S&P 500 Climb To New Record Closing Highs - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday, adding to the gains posted over the past few sessions. With the upward move on the day, the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs, while the Nasdaq hit its best levels of the year.

The major averages moved roughly sideways in afternoon trading, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow closed up 120.74 points or 0.7 percent at 18,347.67, the Nasdaq climbed 34.18 points or 0.7 percent to 5,022.82 and the S&P 500 advanced 14.98 points or 0.7 percent to 2,152.14.

The strength on Wall Street reflected recent upward momentum, which has propelled stocks higher despite concerns about the impact of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Optimism about stimulus from Japan and China also generated buying interest along with hopes that the Bank of England will lower rates to help the U.K. economy sidestep the pitfalls of the so-called Brexit.

A sharp increase in the price of crude oil also contributed to the strength on Wall Street, as crude for August delivery jumped $2.04 to $46.80 a barrel.

The increase by the price of crude oil came on the heels of a recent pullback, which dragged the price down to its lowest levels in two months.

Energy stocks benefited from the rebound by the price of crude oil, with oil service stocks posting particularly strong gains on the day.

Significant strength was also visible among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 4.6 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index.

Within the storage sector, Seagate Technology (STX) posted a standout gain after announcing plans to cut approximately 6,500 jobs, or 14 percent of its global headcount by the end of fiscal year 2017

Airline stocks also saw substantial strength, resulting in a 4.6 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in over two months.

The strength among airline stocks came after Deutsche Bank upgraded its rating on American Airlines (AAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL), and United Continental (UAL) to Buy from Hold.

Steel, financial, chemical, and tobacco stocks also saw considerable strength, while gold and utilities stocks bucked the uptrend.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region showed notable moves to the upside during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 2.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.7 percent.

European stocks also moved notably higher on the day. The French CAC 40 Index soared by 1.6 percent and the German DAX Index spiked by 1.3 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line.

In the bond market, treasuries moved significantly lower, pulling back further off their recent highs. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped by 7.9 basis points to 1.513 percent.

Trading on Wednesday may be impacted by reaction to a report on import and exports prices as well as the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.