A rally in energy companies helped push the U.S. stock market higher for a second straight day Tuesday. Investors also worked through corporate news and prepared for key U.S. economic data later this week.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 89.39 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,918.15. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.74 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,109.79 and the Nasdaq composite rose 17.98 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,145.13.
Oil and gas companies saw another wave of investor interest. The energy sector of the S&P 500 rallied 2.5 percent. The advance was mostly on the back of a jump in the price of oil, which climbed 4 percent. to $47.90 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Drilling and exploration companies were the biggest benefactors. Denver-based Pioneer Natural Resources, Diamond Offshore and Anadarko Petroleum, Colorado’s largest producer, all rose more than 5 percent. Oil conglomerates Exxon Mobil and Chevron rose 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
Investors found some good news in the monthly sales reports from the automakers. General Motors, Ford and others reported double-digit increases in sales from a year earlier, and some automakers are on pace to break annual sales records.
“Even with the market volatility this summer, there aren’t the signs that consumers are hunkering down,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JP Morgan Funds. “This could be good news heading into the holidays.”
Investors will be turning to economic data out later this week. The October jobs report comes out Friday. If the survey comes in strong, it would raise market expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates at its December meeting. Economists expect U.S. employers added 185,000 jobs in October.
