U.S. Stocks Fluctuate After Early Advance But Close Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Tuesday after an early move to the upside but largely maintained a positive bias. The major averages all ended the day in positive territory, regaining ground following the pullback seen during Monday's trading.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 137.75 points or 0.6 percent to 23,413.67, the Dow climbed 185.13 points or 0.4 percent to 47,474.46 and the S&P 500 rose 16.74 points or 0.3 percent to 6,829.37.

The strength on Wall Street came amid a substantial rebound by Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency soared by more than 6 percent after moving sharply lower on Monday.

Bitcoin's rally along with an advance by AI darling and market lead Nvidia (NVDA) may have been an indication of renewed risk appetite.

Semiconductor stocks helped lead the markets higher, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.8 percent.

Considerable strength was also visible among computer stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Airline and telecom stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while gold, natural gas and oil producer stocks moved to the downside.

Overall buying interest was somewhat subdued, as traders looked ahead to the release of some key U.S. economic data in the coming days.

On Wednesday, payroll processor ADP is scheduled to release its report on private sector employment in the month of November.

Economists currently expect private sector employment to edge up by 10,000 jobs in November after rising by 42,000 jobs in October.

The data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next week.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 89.4 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by another quarter point, up from 63.0 percent a month ago.

Reports on service sector activity, personal income and spending and consumer sentiment may also attract attention in the coming days.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Tuesday. South Korea's Kospi surged by 1.9 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up by 0.2 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed just above the unchanged line.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned mixed over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed marginally lower and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved slightly higher as the day progressed after seeing early weakness. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by 1.0 basis point to 4.086 percent.

Looking Ahead

Trading on Wednesday is likely to be driven by reaction to ADP's report on private sector employment and its impact on the outlook for interest rates.