(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly higher in morning trading on Tuesday, regaining ground following the weakness seen in the previous session.
Currently, the Dow is up 23.50 points or 0.1 percent at 27,171.20, the Nasdaq is up 44.55 points or 0.4 percent at 10,823.35 and the S&P 500 is up 12.12 points or 0.4 percent at 3,293.18.
The strength on Wall Street comes after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank remains "committed to using our tools to do what we can, for as long as it takes, to ensure that the recovery will be as strong as possible."
"A full recovery is likely to come only when people are confident that it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities," Powell said in prepared remarks before the House Financial Services Committee.
He added, "The path forward will depend on keeping the virus under control, and on policy actions taken at all levels of government."
On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing existing home sales in the U.S. climbed to their highest level in nearly fourteen years in the month of August.
NAR said existing home sales jumped 2.4 percent to an annual rate of 6.000 million in August after skyrocketing by 24.7 percent to a rate of 5.860 million in July. The continued increase in sales matched economist estimates.
With the sharp increase, existing home sales reached their highest level since December of 2006.
Commercial real estate stocks have shown a strong move to the upside in morning trading, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index up by 1.8 percent.
Significant strength is also visible among retail stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index.
Housing, natural gas and tobacco stocks are also seeing notable strength, while banking stocks are extending the steep drop seen on Monday.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday, with the Japanese markets still closed for a holiday. China's Shanghai Composite Index plunged by 1.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index has jumped by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are showing a lack of direction after moving notably higher in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 0.674 percent.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
