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Stocks advanced Tuesday as the dollar turned lower once again, boosting commodity and other stocks.
The Dow is just a few points short of a record point gain for any one quarter—the current record is 1,339 points set in the fourth quarter of 1998. The Dow is up 1,332 points for the quarter right now with seven trading sessions remaining, and is within 200 points of the 10,000 mark.
The dollar hit a fresh one-year low against the euro, which in turn boosted commodity prices and again boosted the prospects for the stock market.
Crude oil [US@CL.1
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] gained more than $1, bringing it just shy of $71 a barrel.
Bank of America [BAC
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] was the biggest percentage gainer on the Dow at the open after Rochdale analyst Dick Bove raised his price target on the stock to $25 from $19, citing his confidence in the strength of the bank's position.
Alcoa [AA
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] and General Electric [GE
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] rounded out the top three.
Alcoa got a boost after Goldman Sachs raised its six-month price target, citing increase aluminum prices.
Citigroup [C
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] shares rose after GIC reduced its stake in the company to less than 5 percent.
Pfizer [PFE
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] advanced after a trial showed switching breast-cancer patient's to the firm's Aromasin half-way through a five-year course of tamoxifen helped improve the patients' chances of staying cancer-free for at least the next six years.
Lowe's [LOW Loading... ()] skidded after the home-improvement chain affirmed its full-year profit view—its fiscal year ends Jan. 29—but warned of charges ahead due to slow sales at stores hit by the economy.
Elsewhere in retail, Macy's [M
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] shares advanced after Citigroup upgraded its rating on the stock to "buy."
Cadbury [CBY
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] would have some "complementary elements."
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ConAgra Foods [CAG
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] skidded after the company beat analysts' estimates and raised its earnings forecast for the full year as commodity costs eased and price increases helped lift sales.
The Federal Reserve kicks off a two-day policy meeting today, with an announcement expected at 2:15pm ET tomorrow.
And the Treasury kicks off $112 billion in debt sales today with an auction of $43 billion dollars in two-year notes, with the results available shortly after 1 pm. The five-year auction is Wednesday and seven-year is Thursday.
The monthly U.S. Home Price Index for July is out at 10 am, with economists looking for an increase of 0.5 percent over the prior month.
Political matters will also capture investor attention today, as the Senate Finance Committee begins marking up the health care reform bill, and as world leaders convene in New York for the U.N. General Assembly.
- Peter Schacknow contributed to this report.
This Week:
TUESDAY: Two-year auction; two-day Fed meeting begins
WEDNESDAY: Weekly mortgage applications; weekly crude inventories
THURSDAY: G-20 summit begins; weekly jobless claims; existing-home sales; seven-year auction; Earnings from RIM
FRIDAY: Durable-goods orders; consumer sentiment; new-home sales; Earnings from KB Home
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Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes