WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Tuesday, extending the strong upward move seen over the course of Monday's session. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.
The major averages ended the day at or near their highs of the session. The Nasdaq surged 455.35 points or 2 percent to 23,639.08, the S&P 500 jumped 81.14 points or 1.2 percent to 6,967.38 and the Dow climbed 317.74 points or 0.7 percent to 48,535.99.
With the extended rally, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over two months, while the Dow hit a one-month closing high.
The continued strength on Wall Street came 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.'
In a subsequent interview with the New York Post, Trump indicated the second round of U.S.-Iran talks 'could be happening over next two days.'
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 7 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 showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 5.1 percent.
Significant strength was also visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index.
Biotechnology, retail and semiconductor stocks also saw considerable strength, while energy stocks moved 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 surged by 2.4 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 1 percent.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index shot up by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved notably higher over the course of the session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 4.1 basis points to a nearly one-month closing low of 4.256 percent.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
