Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday, adding to the strong gains posted in the previous session. With the continued upward move, the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed to a new record closing high.
The major averages closed firmly in positive territory but off their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 232.23 points or 1.1 percent to 20,996.12, the Nasdaq climbed 41.67 points or 0.7 percent to 6,025.49 and the S&P 500 rose 14.46 points or 0.6 percent to 2,388.61.
Buying interest was generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from a number of well known companies, including DuPont (DD), Caterpillar (CAT) and McDonald's (MCD).
Shares of DuPont saw significant strength after the chemical giant reported first quarter results that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Construction equipment maker Caterpillar also moved notably higher after reporting better than expected first quarter results and raising its full-year guidance.
McDonald's also reported first quarter earnings and revenues that exceeded analyst estimates, with the fast good giant also reporting an unexpected increase in comparable sales.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola (KO) reported first quarter earnings that came in below analyst estimates, although the beverage giant's revenues were better than expected.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing that new home sales saw a substantial increase in the month of March.
The Commerce Department said new home sales jumped by 5.8 percent to an annual rate of 621,000 in March from a revised 587,000 in February.
Economists had expected new home sales to drop to a rate of 585,000 from the 592,000 originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, a separate report from the Conference Board showed a bigger than expected pullback in consumer confidence in the month of April.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 120.3 in April from a revised 124.9 in March. Economists had expected the index to dip to 123.1 from the 125.6 originally reported for the previous month.
"Consumer confidence declined in April after increasing sharply over the past two months, but still remains at strong levels," said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.
She added, "Despite April's decline, consumers remain confident that the economy will continue to expand in the months ahead."
Sector News
Biotechnology stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 1.8 percent. With the jump, the index reached its best closing level in a month.
Epizyme (EPZM), Albany Molecular Research (AMRI), and Affimed (AFMD) turned in some of the sector's best performances.
Significant strength was also visible among natural gas stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index.
Chemical, computer hardware and steel stocks also saw considerable strength, while gold stocks bucked the uptrend amid a drop by the price of the precious metal.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 1.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.3 percent.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both rose by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries extended a recent downward trend amid the strength on Wall Street. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed by 5.4 basis points to 2.327 percent.
Looking Ahead
Earnings news is likely to remain in focus on Wednesday, with AT&T (T) and U.S. Steel (X) among the companies releasing their quarterly results after the close of today's trading.
Boeing (BA), Hershey (HSY), PepsiCo (PEP), and Twitter (TWTR) are also due to release their results before the start of trading on Wednesday.
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