Investing.com - Wall Street's major market indexes closed higher on Tuesday, as investors eyed retail shares as a proxy for holiday sales. The Dow failed to hit the 20,000.00 mark once again. The dollar posted gains as well.
The Russell 2000 Index closed up at 1378.49, up 0.51%.
The VIX closed at 11.91, up 4.11%, or 0.47.
The Dow closed at 19948.70.
The Nasdaq was up at 5487.44, a new record, and the S&P 500 also closed higher at 2268.87.
The dollar posted gains on Tuesday, reaching 117.61 yen, on consumer confidence data in the U.S. The dollar index was also up. Parity with the euro seems unattainable for now, but the dollar may reach 120 yen parity soon, analysts commented. Inflationary expectations about, as new infrastructure spending next year is likely to boost wages and pries.
The equities market was mostly quiet on Tuesday, but Democrats vowed to create turmoil next year when President-elect Trump takes office.
One fringe Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), announced that she would try to obstruct every policy the new president proposes, even those which have encouraged optimism on Wall Street during the last seven weeks since the election.
A study on consumer confidence released earlier today indicated that the confidence of U.S. consumers is at its highest level in 13 years, or since before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.