Wall Street started the historically tough month of September on a high note, following August's strong broad market gains. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed with new record highs at the end of Tuesday's session, boosted by the ongoing tech rally and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA) popularity following their respective stock splits. Work-from-home stocks also benefitted from Zoom Video Communications's (NASDAQ: ZM) better-than-expected quarterly earnings. The Dow did not miss out on the rally as well, ending the session in strong standing.
Meanwhile, the ISM manufacturing index gained in August to 56.0 from July's 54.2, suggesting that U.S. manufacturing is not only recovering but expanding at a healthy rate. However, there are a few worrying fault lines under the surface as manufacturing employment levels still remain in recession territory.
Here's how the market closed on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.75% or +26.35 points to 3,526.66
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.76% of +215.74 points to 28,645.79
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.39% or +164.21 points to 11,939.67
For Major Stock News, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) was among the major gainers Tuesday as the retail giant announced a new upcoming membership program to rival Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Prime. Big tech shares advanced: Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX). U.S. airlines--American (NASDAQ: AAL), Delta (NYSE: DAL), Southwest (NYSE: LUV), and United (NASDAQ: UAL)--also saw a late session share bump after President Donald Trump announced that he is planning to issue more stimulus to the industry even if Congress does not pass a new fiscal package.
For Sector Performance, industries mostly gained during Tuesday's session as more investment optimism flooded the market. The performance gainers were Materials +2.75%, Information Technology +1.86%, Consumer Discretionary +1.09%, Communication Services +1.04%, Industrials +0.96%, Financials +0.22%, and Consumer Staples +0.11%. Only Utilities -1.14%, Health Care -0.98%, Energy -0.92%, Real Estate -0.15% lagged behind the rest of the sectors.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) edged up 0.19% higher against a basket of several global currencies, but is still hovering around two year lows. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices remained relatively flat after gaining earlier in the session, with spot gold settling up 0.1% at $1,971.92 per ounce while futures settled unchanged at $1,980.10 per ounce. Crude oil futures rose, revering previous losses as better-than-expected manufacturing activity lead to hope for a quicker economic recovery. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) climbed 0.66% higher to settle at $45.58 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) increased 0.4% to close at $42.76 each.
As the market heads into the mid-week, investors will focus on fresh mortgage applications and U.S. private payroll data, as well as the earnings data from retail stocks like Macy's (NYSE: M).