US stock indices inched higher on Tuesday, building on gains made in Monday’s session to close at fresh record highs off the back of strong corporate earnings.
The S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot to record levels shortly after Wall Street opened. Both indices retraced some of those gains in New York hours, with the Dow roughly unchanged at the closing bell and the S&P marginally higher for the day, up 0.2 per cent.
The moves take the S&P’s year-to-date gains to 22 per cent, having also hit a record high on Monday.
Tuesday’s ebullience was in part attributable to strong results from the likes of UPS and General Electric on Tuesday morning, which closed up 6.9 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively. Investor optimism ahead of results from technology companies including Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet after the bell on Tuesday also buoyed stock markets. Both Google and Microsoft beat earnings expectations.