After seeing considerable volatility during morning trading on Tuesday, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the afternoon. The gains extended the upward move seen last week, which ended a three-week losing streak.
While strength was visible in a variety of sectors, steel stocks posted particularly strong gains amid optimism about the outlook for global demand. Reflecting the strength in the steel sector, the NYSE Arca Steel Index surged up by 2.9 percent.
Networking stocks also moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 2.6 percent. Polycom (PLCM) and Acme Packet (APKT) turned in two of the sector's best performances.
Significant strength was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. The strength in the housing sector came amid a positive reaction to a Standard & Poor's report on home prices.
Chemical, semiconductor, brokerage, and oil service stocks also posted strong gains, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Meanwhile, gold stocks bucked the uptrend, resulting in a 2.1 percent loss by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The weakness in the sector came as gold for June delivery tumbled $20.20 to $1,548.70 an ounce.
The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory but off their early highs. The Dow advanced 125.86 points or 1 percent to 12,580.69, the Nasdaq jumped 33.46 points or 1.2 percent to 2,870.99 and the S&P 500 climbed 14.60 points or 1.1 percent to 1,332.42.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.