Major Averages Close Near Their Best Levels Of The Day

(RTTNews) - After showing a strong move to the upside in early trading on Tuesday, stocks continued to perform well throughout the session. The gains on the day extended a recent upward move for the markets, with the Nasdaq once again reaching a nearly thirteen-year closing high.

Extending the upward trend seen over the past two weeks, airline stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session. The NYSE Arca Airline Index surged up by 3.8 percent, reaching its best closing level in over a month.

Airline stocks benefited from a sharp drop by the price of crude oil, which offset recent concerns about higher jet fuel prices. Crude for October delivery plunged $2.13 to $107.39 a barrel.

Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Strong gains by SunEdison (SUNE) and ARM Holdings (ARMH) helped lift the index to a nearly two-month closing high.

Trucking stocks also turned in a strong performance on the day, driving the Dow Jones Trucking Index up by 2 percent. YRC Worldwide (YRCW) helped lead the sector higher, surging up by 17.8 percent.

Steel, brokerage, and software stocks also posted strong gains, moving to the upside along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, gold stocks bucked the uptrend amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal. With gold for December delivery tumbling $22.70 to $1,364 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index plummeted by 4.2 percent.

The major averages were largely rangebound in afternoon trading before closing near their best levels of the day. The Dow surged up 127.94 or 0.9 percent to 15,191.06, the Nasdaq climbed 22.84 points or 0.6 percent to 3,729.02 and the S&P 500 advanced 12.28 points or 0.7 percent to 1,683.99.