U.S. Stocks Show Substantial Move To The Upside

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Tuesday, extending the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a standout gain.

The major averages finished the session just off their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq surged 238.63 points or 1.7 percent to 13,943.76, the S&P 500 jumped 64.32 points or 1.5 percent to 4,497.63 and the Dow advanced 292.69 points or 0.9 percent to 34,852.67.

The strength on Wall Street came as the latest batch of U.S. economic data helped ease recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Consumer confidence in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than anticipated in the month of August, according to a report released by the Conference Board.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index tumbled to 106.1 in August from a downwardly revised 114.0 in July.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to edge down to 116.5 from the 117.0 originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed job openings in the U.S. decreased to 8.8 million on the last business day of July.

"From the Fed's perspective, the week is off to a promising start with the JOLTS job opening report much softer than expected, alongside downward revisions to the previous month," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

He added, "The Fed needs to see a softer labor market to be confident that price pressures aren't just abating but substantially and sustainably and this report is a move in the right direction."

Telecom stocks saw significant strength on the day, resulting in a 3.0 percent surge by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) posted notable gains after Citi upgraded their ratings on both telecom giants to Buy.

Considerable strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Airline, steel and housing stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index inched up by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.2 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged by 1.7 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved sharply higher, adding to the gains posted on Monday. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, tumbled 9.0 basis points to 4.122 percent.

Looking Ahead

A report on private sector employment is likely to attract attention on Wednesday ahead of the release of the Labor Department's more closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.