Dow And S&P 500 Once Again Climb To New Record Closing Highs

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, as traders reacted positively to remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. The gains on the day lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to new record closing highs.

The strength on Wall Street came as Yellen's semi-annual monetary policy testimony before the Senate Banking Committee was widely interrupted as dovish.

In prepared remarks, Yellen indicated that the Fed is not likely to begin raising interest rates for at least the next couple monetary policy meetings.

Steel stocks showed a strong move to the upside, regaining some ground after ending the previous session sharply lower. The NYSE Arca Steel Index surged up by 1.7 percent, partly offsetting the 2.3 percent loss posted on Monday.

AK Steel (AKS), Ternium (TX), and U.S. Steel (X) turned in some of the steel sector's best performances on the day.

Considerable strength also emerged among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in almost a month.

Financial stocks also saw significant strength on the heels of Yellen's remarks, with the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the Dow Jones Banks Index advancing by 1.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Semiconductor and housing stocks also moved notably higher, while weakness was visible among commercial real estate and biotechnology stocks.

The major averages all closed in positive territory, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged up just 7.15 points or 0.1 percent to 4,968.12. The Dow advanced 92.35 points or 0.5 percent to 18,209.19 and the S&P 500 rose 5.82 points or 0.3 percent to 2,115.48.