U.S. stocks ended higher on Tuesday as investors looked past President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and waited for AI chipmaker NVIDIA to announce its quarterly results on Wednesday. All three major indexes ended in positive territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.3% or 135.60 points, to close at 45,418.07 points.
The S&P 500 added 0.4% to end at 6,465.94 points. Industrials, healthcare, consumer discretionary and tech stocks were the biggest gainers.
The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) each gained 0.5%. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) rose 0.6%, while the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) added 1%. Seven of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.4% to finish at 21,544.27 points.
The fear gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 1.15% to 14.62. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the S&P 500 by an 11-to-1 ratio. On the S&P 500, there were 21 new highs and two new lows.
On the Nasdaq, there were 120 new highs and 59 new lows.
A total of 15.7 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 16.9 billion.
Trump said on Monday night that he was firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the board due to allegations of irregularities in obtaining mortgage loans, raising concerns about the independence of the central bank from politics.
Cook plans to file a lawsuit challenging Trump’s decision. The Fed’s board presently has six members after the resignation of Adriana Kugler. Cook’s dismissal now leaves the board with two vacancies.
However, investors kept aside those concerns and looked forward to NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA), which is scheduled to release its quarterly results on Wednesday after market close.
Shares of NVIDIA ended 1.1% on Tuesday. NVIDIA has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The current upbeat market sentiment is a result of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s latest comments at the Jackson Hole Symposium last week. Powell suggested that a rate cut may be possible in September, given the weakening labor market.
Markets are now pricing in an 87.3% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut in September, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, which could bolster the broader market.
