Stocks showed a strong upward move over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, adding to the gains posted in the previous session. The rally came even as traders expressed some uncertainty ahead of tomorrow's Federal Reserve announcement.
Health insurance stocks showed a strong move to the upside over the course of the session, driving the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index up by 2.1 percent. With the gain, the index reached a new record closing high.
WellCare Health Plans (WCG) turned in one of the health insurance sector's best performances, with the managed care services provider advancing by 3.7 percent.
Considerable strength was also visible among defense stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Defense Sector Index, which also set a new record closing high.
Flir Systems (FLIR) helped to lead the defense sector higher, surging up by 6.2 percent following an upgrade by Raymond James to Strong Buy from Market Perform.
Semiconductor, electronic storage, and railroad stocks also saw significant strength on the day, while gold stocks bucked the uptrend amid a sharp drop by the price of the precious metal.
The major averages gave back some ground going into the close but remained firmly in positive territory. The Dow surged up 138.38 points or 0.9 percent to 15,318.18, the Nasdaq advanced 30.05 points or 0.9 percent to 3,482.18 and the S&P 500 climbed 12.77 points or 0.8 percent to 1,651.81.
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