U.S. Stocks Close On Firm Note; Nasdaq Rises 1.5 Percent

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks moved higher on Tuesday, with technology stocks turning in a strong performance. Pushing geopolitical concerns and interest-rate uncertainty aside, investors picked up stocks, choosing to focus on the earnings season.

The major averages all ended on a firm note. The Dow started off on a sluggish note and remained that way till midway through the day's session before moving higher. The index ended the day with a gain of 126.13 points or 0.3 percent at 42,080.37. The S&P 500 settled at 5,751.13, gaining 55.19 points or 0.97 percent, while the Nasdaq ended higher by 259.01 points or 1.45 percent at 18,182.92.

Travelers Companies Inc., Honeywell, Apple, Home Depot, Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce gained 1 to 2 percent.

Palo Alto Networks, up nearly 5 percent, was the top gainer in the Nasdaq. NVIDIA climbed about 3.7 percent, and Synopsis gained 3.2 percent. CoStar Group, Netflix, Broadcom, Autodest, Cadence, Airbnb, Booking Holdings and Adobe advanced 2 to 3 percent.

PepsiCo gained about 2 percent. The company announced today that its bottom line came in at $2.930 billion, or $2.13 per share, compared with $3.092 billion, or $2.24 per share in last year's third quarter. The numbers, however, beat the Street estimates.

ExxonMobil, Valero Energy, Marathon Petroleum Corpoation, Super Micro Computer, Caterpillar, Chevron and American Express were among the notable losers.

On the economic front, the trade deficit in the US narrowed to $70.4 billion in August 2024, the lowest in five months, from an upwardly revised $78.9 billion in July. Exports increased 2% to a record high of $271.8 billion, while imports dropped 0.9% to $342.2 billion.

Data on U.S. consumer price and producer price inflation are due later in the week.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks declined on Tuesday, with Hong Kong markets leading regional losses as China's National Development and Reform Commission pledged more measures to boost the Chinese economy but gave little in the way of details.

The dollar consolidated near a seven-week high while gold edged down slightly after a Federal Reserve official urged a cautious path on interest-rate cuts.

Investors looked ahead to key U.S. inflation readings and the release of the Fed's latest meeting minutes this week for additional clues on the Fed's rate trajectory.

The major European markets drifted lower as Middle East worries persisted and China's state planner announced no new plans for major stimulus.