WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the strong upward move seen over the course of the previous session, stocks are seeing further upside during trading on Tuesday. The major averages have all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.
Currently, the major averages are just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq is up 296.60 points or 1.3 percent at 23,480.33, the S&P 500 is up 53.48 points or 0.8 percent at 6,939.72 and the Dow is up 267.07 points or 0.6 percent at 48,485.32.
The continued strength on Wall Street comes amid optimism about a second round of talks between the U.S. and Iran over ending the Middle East conflict.
President Donald Trump said on Monday the U.S. has been contacted by Iran about resuming peace talks and claimed, 'They'd like to make a deal very badly.'
The news about potential negotiations has contributed to a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil, with U.S. crude oil futures plunging by more than 5 percent.
'Previously, the narrative was straightforward: the longer the war dragged on, the worse the outlook for growth, inflation and risk assets,' said Daniela Hathorn, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com. 'Now, the dynamic appears to have flipped.'
'With a ceasefire framework still loosely in place and the US attempting to control the Strait, the absence of escalation, rather than the presence of conflict, is being treated as a positive signal,' she added. 'In other words, each day without a major disruption to Gulf energy infrastructure is being read as incremental progress toward stabilization.'
Adding to the positive sentiment on Wall Street, a report released by the Labor Department showed producer prices in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in the month of March.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.5 percent in March, matching a downwardly revised increase in February.
Economists had expected producer prices to jump by 1.2 percent compared to the 0.7 percent advance originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said the annual rate of growth by producer prices accelerated to 4.0 percent in March from 3.4 percent in February. Economists had expected the pace of growth to surge to 4.6 percent.
Sector News
Airline stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 5.3 percent.
Significant strength is also visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index.
Software, gold and biotechnology stocks are also seeing considerable strength, while energy stocks are moving sharply lower along with the price of crude oil.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 2.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 1 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the upward move seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.8 basis points at 4.279 percent.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
