Stocks Close Higher After Seeing Initial Weakness - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After seeing initial weakness, stocks turned higher over the course of the trading session on Tuesday. With the turnaround, the major averages extended the upward move seen over the two previous sessions.

The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory. The Dow edged up 39.18 points or 0.2 percent to 24,640.45, the Nasdaq advanced 31.55 points or 0.5 percent to 7,013.51 and the S&P 500 rose 6.94 points or 0.3 percent to 2,662.94.

The rebound came as traders looked ahead to the release of reports on consumer prices and retail sales on Wednesday.

The data is likely to have a significant impact on how traders perceive the Federal Reserve will act regarding future interest rate hikes.

Reports on producer prices, housing starts, and homebuilder confidence are also due to be released later in the week.

Tobacco stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the Dow Jones Tobacco Index up by 2.8 percent. With the jump, the index reached a record closing high.

Retail and real estate stocks also moved to the upside, while considerable weakness was visible among energy stocks.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged up by 1.3 percent. However, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index bucked the uptrend and fell by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index fell by 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries moved back to the upside following recent weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped by 1.7 basis points to 2.840 percent.