Investing.com – Wall Street traded higher on Tuesday with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite marking new record highs even as the volatility hit a fresh 23-year low.
At 12:17AM ET (16:17GMT), the Dow Jones inched up 2 points, or 0.01%, the S&P 500 edged forward 2 points, or 0.07%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 24 points, or 0.39%.
The move forward continued as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) logged gains of around 0.7%, hitting new record highs with a market capitalization passing $800 billion on the back of news that billionaire investor Warren Buffet had tripled his stake in the tech company.
Apple, the biggest stock on the three major indices, is largely responsible for the gains seen this year, with its 2017 rise accountable for 102% of the gains in the Dow, according to Investor's Business Daily.
Some experts have also shown concern over complacency with the low levels of volatility while the widely-watched CBOE Volatility Index, known as the VIX or investor fear gauge, again briefly hitting its lowest level since December 1993 on Tuesday.
However, some analysts warned against too much being read into the indicator that only goes back as far as 1990 and has only dipped below 10 on four other occasions in all that time.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts noted that many investors were concerned about when low volatility or complacency will lead to a deeper market drawdown, but suggested that “volatility can stay low and the secular bull market should continue”.
The VIX hit an intraday low of 9.56, just a hair’s breadth away from its record low of 9.31. By comparison, the VIX’s historical average is 20.
Regardless, news flow was light throughout the day with the only major economic report showing that job openings once again increased in March in what was considered to be a sign of employers actively seeking workers.
With regard to the Federal Reserve (Fed), investors still looked ahead to two appearances from policymakers as the chief of the Minneapolis branch Neel Kashkari focused on blockchain technology in his speech at a conference in Minnesota.
Kansas City Fed president Esther George, a non-voter this year who often dissented on decisions in 2016 due to her call for rate hikes, said that she was in favor of beginning to wind down the central bank’s balance sheet this year due to her fear that the economy would overheat.
Boston Fed chief Eric Rosengren will be speaking at a risk management for commercial real estate conference.
Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan is scheduled to speak at the Dallas Regional Chamber Lower Middle Market Investment Summit which will be followed by an audience and media Q&A.
Fed fund futures currently price in the odds of a rate hike at the June meeting at around 81%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
In big moves on earnings, U.S. shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX) jumped 18% as the Canadian drugmaker posted its first profit in six quarters.
Also of note, Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) led the S&P 500 higher with gains of more than 6% as the hotel giant beat earnings estimates.
After the close, the spotlight will be on Dow component Walt Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) earnings while the tech sector will focus on NVIDIA’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) numbers.
Meanwhile, oil prices were lower in midday trading on Tuesday, erasing overnight gains as investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products.
Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of 1.8 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures slumped 1.06% to $45.94 by 12:18AM ET (16:18GMT), while Brent oil traded down 1.01% to $48.84.