The Dow eased from session highs, but downside was limited by an Apple-infused rise in technology ahead of the tech giant’s product event later today.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.45%, or 126 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.95%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.51%.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) continued its strong start to the week, climbing more than 1% higher ahead of its product event, when the company is expected to unveil its new products and updated versions of devices like the iPad and Apple Watch.
The virtual product event comes ahead of the widely anticipated launch of the iPhone 12, expected later this year, which many on Wall Street believe will trigger a ramp-up in iPhone upgrades.
Other big tech stocks also pushed the broader market higher, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) trading above the flatline.
Energy, meanwhile, struggled to make a meaningful advance even as oil prices shrugged off concern about weaker demand.
The International Energy Agency said it expects global oil demand growth to fall by 8.4 million barrels per day year-on-year to 91.7 million bpd. That is a deeper contraction than the 8.1 million bpd decline previously estimated.
On the economic front, investors digested positive regional market data as a sign that the economic recovery remains intact despite dimming hopes of further stimulus from Congress.
The Empire State Manufacturing index rose to a reading of 17 in September, from 3.7 last month, topping economists’ estimates of 7.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday that she would not back the Republican’s “skinny” version of her party’s coronavirus stimulus plan.
In other news, Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) fell 5% giving back gains from a day earlier after the electric pickup maker reportedly came under investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission following allegations of fraud from short-seller Hindenburg, Bloomberg reported.