Stocks continue to see substantial strength in mid-afternoon trading on Tuesday amid optimism about further stimulus from the Federal Reserve. The major averages have moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day, reaching their best intraday levels in over a month.
The strength on Wall Street comes as traders look ahead to the Fed's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday, with many hopeful that the central bank will unveil further measures to stimulate the sluggish economy.
A recent batch of disappointing U.S. economic data has contributed to the optimism about further stimulus along with continued concerns about the impact of the ongoing financial crisis in Europe.
Steel stocks are posting particularly strong gains on the day, resulting in a 3.8 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. ArcelorMittal (MT), Steel Dynamics (STLD), and A.M. Castle (CAS) are turning in some of the sector's best performances.
Considerable strength is also visible among software stocks, with Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL) posting standout gains.
Microsoft is up by 3.6 percent after unveiling a Windows-based tablet device to rival Apple's (AAPL) iPad, while Oracle is up by 3.1 percent after reporting better than expected quarterly results.
Most of the other major sectors have also showed strong moves to the upside, with banking, chemical, airline, and oil service stocks seeing significant strength.
The major averages have pulled back off their highs for the session in recent trading but continue to post strong gains. The Dow is up 147.88 points or 1.2 percent at 12,889.70, the Nasdaq is up 42.28 points or 1.5 percent at 2,937.61 and the S&P 500 is up 17.45 points or 1.3 percent at 1,362.23.
by RTT Staff Writer
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