Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday as investor appetite for risker assets remained supported following a surge in Financials amid a rebound in Treasury yields while upbeat comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin lifted sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 22,118.86. The S&P 500 closed 0.34% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6454.28, up 0.34%.
The risk-on trade continued to grip markets as U.S. stocks closed at record highs, led by Financials, mostly banks, following a sharp rise in U.S. treasury yields after recent concerns over Irma and North Korea faded.
On the political front, investors mulled over comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who said the Trump administration is considering backdating tax reform to the start of the year to boost the American economy.
Backdating "is still something we are considering and it would be a big boon for the economy," Mnuchin said at the Delivering Alpha conference on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, economic data showing the U.S. labor market continued to strengthened added to positive sentiment.
The U.S. Labor Department's latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTs) report, a measure of labor demand, showed job openings in July improved to about 6.2m, beating expectations of 5.96m.
On the corporate news front, Apple continued to garner most of the attention in the wake of its annual consumer products event, where it unveiled three new iPhone models including the iPhone X which is set to hit the shelves on November 3.
Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) closed at 160.82, down 0.42%.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) up 3.1%, DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) up 2.5% and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) up 2.2%
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) down 3.2%, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) down 1.1% and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) down 0.5%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.