Text size

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs on Monday.

(Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. stocks remained near all-time highs on Tuesday, after economic data beat estimates.

By midmorning, the 

Dow Jones Industrial Average

 gained 138 points, or 0.4%, while the 

S&P 500

 rose 0.15% to 4,299, higher than its closing level Monday. The 

Nasdaq Composite

 rose 0.1%.

The Case-Shiller U.S. home-price index for April rose 14.6% year over year, the fastest annual rate in more than 30 years. The index is a key point of interest as investors look for clues about what might prompt the Federal Reserve to potentially raise interest rates

Fed members are discussing reducing the size of the mortgage bond buying program, which currently sits at $40 billion per month. Those purchases keep mortgage bond prices high and their yields low, stimulating housing demand.

Elsewhere, the consumer confidence index rose to 127.3 for June, higher than the anticipated 118.7 and last month’s result of 120. As states reopen and the employment picture brightens, consumers are increasingly confident, often a signal that spending will be strong ahead. The

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Discretionary Exchange-Traded Fund

(RCD) gained 0.75%.

In Asia, Tokyo’s

Nikkei 225

fell 0.8%, while Hong Kong’s

Hang Seng

declined 0.9%. The

Shanghai Composite

dipped 0.9%. The

FTSE 100

in London lifted 0.4% as the pan-European

Stoxx 600

was 0.5% higher. The

CAC 40

in Paris climbed 0.4% and Frankfurt’s

DAX

rose 1.1%.

“The renewed focus on coronavirus has continued during today’s Asia-Pacific session, especially with Hong Kong having yesterday announced a ban on U.K. visitors and direct flights from the U.K.,” analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets noted, as Asian stocks materially underperformed across Tuesday trading.

In Europe, the reflation trade surged back, with shares in mining, industrial, and financial companies adding buoyancy to major indexes. Meanwhile, the European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator reflected a notable acceleration in economic activity at the end of the second quarter of 2021, rising in June to the highest level in 21 years.

Mortgage lender Nationwide said that British house prices rose 13.4% in June compared with the same period last year—the largest annual rise since 2004. U.K. housebuilder stocks rallied on the news, with shares in

Persimmon,

Taylor Wimpey,

and

Barratt Developments

at the top of the list of the FTSE 100’s risers.

Shares in French electric company

Rexel

rose 4.3% in Paris trading after the group raised its sales forecast for 2021. Rexel now expects same-day sales growth of between 12% and 15%, up from a prior forecast of between 5% and 7%.

Morgan Stanley

 (ticker: MS) stock gained 4.3% after the bank doubled its dividend payment to 70 cents a share. 

Textron

 (TXT) stock gained 3.6% after getting upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley. 

Keurig Dr Pepper

  (KDP) stock gained 1%. Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight. 

Fortinet

 (FTNT) stock dropped 2.7% after being downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt. 

Carvana

(CVNA) stock dropped 2%. Piper Sandler downgraded the company to Neutral from Overweight. 

Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com

Read More