Wall Street finds solid footing
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.(Photo: Richard Drew, AP)
Wall Street looked poised to extend prior-session gains as stocks were rising Tuesday morning.
In morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average added 0.4%, Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.4%.
The yield on the 10-year treasury note was down to 2.62%. The price of gold was up 1.5% to around $1,254 an ounce.
Benchmark crude for August delivery was down 41 cents to $102.73 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, maintaining gains after worries over Egypt's political crisis pushed the price up $1.98 to $103.22 on Friday, the highest in more than a year.
On Monday, the Dow rose 0.6% to close at 15,224.69. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% percent to end at 1,640.46. The Nasdaq composite ended 0.2% higher at 3,484.83.
MONDAY: Stocks move higher as second-quarter earnings begin[1]
Alcoa late Monday kicked off the second-quarter earnings season with better-than-expected results. The news comes at a key point for stocks.
Wall Street has been buoyed by stronger-than-expected U.S. hiring figures released Friday that suggested the world's biggest economy is on a firm footing. The strong jobs growth has outweighed jitters about the prospect that the Fed will soon start winding down its unprecedented support for the economy.
In Europe, stocks were trading higher as the major indexes advanced. Germany's DAX was up 1.4%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.7% and Britain's FTSE 100 gained 1%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index, the regional heavyweight, surged 2.58% to 14,442.90 on Tuesday.
Greece's creditors approved the disbursement of $5.3 billion from the rescue package that is keeping the country afloat, helping sentiment in the region.
Contributing: Associated Press
References
- ^ http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2013/07/08/stocks-monday/2497743/ (www.usatoday.com)