Investing.com – Wall Street traded higher on Tuesday buoyed by stellar data related to the U.S. consumer, while investors exited crude in droves as hopes were dashed for a meaningful agreement in Algiers.
At 12:47ET (16:47GMT), the Dow Jones gained 113 points, or 0.63%, while the S&P 500 rose 11 points, or 0.50%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 39 points, or 0.81%.
U.S. consumer confidence hit more than a nine-year high in September, buoying optimism in the health of the American economy and driving equities to intraday highs.
In a report, the Conference Board, a market research group, said its index of consumer confidence unexpectedly increased to 104.1 this month from a reading of 101.8 in August, whose figure was revised from a previously reported 101.1.
That was its highest level since August 2007 and surprised analysts who were expecting the index to dip 99.0 in September.
In other positive economic data, activity in the U.S. services sector rose more than expected in September, according to preliminary data from market research group Markit.
However, Markit chief economist Chris Williamson warned that reading still reflected subdued growth and pointed to an increase of just 1% in gross domestic product for the third quarter.
On the downside, the S&P/CaseShiller house price index rose just below expectations in July while data from the Richmond Fed showed that manufacturing activity in the 5th Fed district remained soft while its employment index hit a 36-month low.
Ahead of Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen’s testimony to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the U.S. central bank’s vice chairman Stanley Fischer delivered a speech to would-be economists at Howard University but steered clear of any mention of monetary policy.
Markets were still placing bets for the Fed to return to policy normalization in December, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Meanwhile, oil was taking a beating on Tuesday, plunging more than 3% as both Saudi Arabia and Iran assured markets that there were no hopes of a deal to freeze output at the following day’s widely-anticipated meeting.
Adding to the bearish sentiment, the International Energy Agency (IEA) underlined concern about the global supply glut, saying that it doesn’t expect an oil-market rebalancing until “late 2017”.
That was slightly more bearish than a previous call that saw output outpacing demand “at least through the first half of next year”.
U.S. crude futures slumped 3.40% to $44.37 by 12:48ET (16:48GMT), while Brent oil tumbled 3.40% to $46.30.
On the company front stateside, all eyes were on Nike’s (NYSE:NKE) earnings report. The sports apparel giant will publish its quarterly numbers after the market close.