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Investing.com — U.S. stocks traded higher on Tuesday as manufacturing data came in more upbeat than expected, with Nasdaq hitting a new record. President Donald Trump eased concerns over China trade tensions and sought to pump more stimulus checks into the pockets of Americans.
By 2 PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 218 points, or 0.84% at 26,243, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both up more than 1%.
Nike (NYSE:NKE), Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) led gains, and nine out of 11 sectors were trading higher. The utilities and real estate sectors traded lower.
IHS Markit’s purchasing manager index for June also rebounded more than expected to 49.6 from 39.8 in May. Services in particular rebounded smartly as businesses started to re-emerge from lockdown. Meanwhile, sales of new U.S. single-family homes jumped more than expected last month, up 16.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000 units.
Apple rose after three analysts raised price targets on the announcement that the company would use its own chips and move away from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).
American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:AAL) stock fell 7.1% after the company priced its share offering at $13.50 a share, a discount of nearly 10% to Monday’s closing price. The issue’s pricing was hurt by the company’s decision to increase its size to $2 billion from an originally envisaged $1.5 billion.
AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) rose 1.7% to $54.36 after the Pirbright Institute, in collaboration with the University of Oxford, showed that two doses of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine produced a greater antibody response than a single dose in pigs.
In other markets, gold futures hit an eight-year high as investors continued to price in currency debasement through a likely long period of ultra-low interest rates and asset purchases. By 12:20 PM ET (1620 GMT), gold futures for delivery on the Comex exchange were at $1,783.75, up 1.0% on the day. U.S. Crude Oil futures, meanwhile, hit their highest level since early March on signs that OPEC’s crackdown on quota-busting had had some effect. WTI was up 0.2% at $40.80 a barrel.
