Major Averages Close Firmly In Positive Territory

(RTTNews) - Stocks turned in another strong performance during trading on Tuesday, extending the upward trend seen over the past several sessions. The gains on the day once again lifted the tech-heavy Nasdaq to a new fourteen-year closing high.

Adding to recent gains, housing stocks saw significant strength on the heels of upbeat housing starts data. The Philadelphia Housing Sector Index surged up by 1.7 percent, reaching its best closing level in almost a month.

Ryland Group (RYL), Lennar (LEN), and D.R. Horton (DHI) turned in some of the housing sector's best performances on the day.

Considerable strength was also visible among retail sales, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Retail Index. Aeropostale (ARO) posted a particularly strong gain, jumping by 19.4 percent amid news that it rehired Julian Geiger as CEO.

Natural gas stocks also showed a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up by 1.3 percent. The strength in the sector came as natural gas for September delivery climbed $0.085 to $3.877 per million BTUs.

Utilities, networking, and oil service stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow climbed 80.85 points or 0.5 percent to 16,919.59, the Nasdaq rose 19.20 points or 0.4 percent to 4,527.51 and the S&P 500 advanced 9.86 points or 0.5 percent to 1,981.60.