Investing.com -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to record intraday and closing highs on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 Composite index hit fresh highs for the second consecutive session, as oil futures surged 4% to bounce from near two-month lows while foreign investors piled into equities on Wall Street amid a plunging Yen.
The Dow closed at 18,347.67, up 120.74 or 0.66% on the session, eclipsing the previous record from May,2015, by approximately 30 points. At session-highs, the Dow hit a record intraday high of 18,372 in the final hour of Tuesday's trade, slightly above the prior all-time high of 18,351.36 from last May. Since tumbling by more than 850 points over a two-day, post-Brexit sell-off, the Dow has rallied approximately 1,300 points during the massive global equities rally.
The S&P 500, meanwhile, surged to a record mid-day high of 2,155.40 in Tuesday's session, before closing at an all-time high of 2,152.14, up 14.98 or 0.70%. For the day, eight of 10 sectors closed in the green, as stocks in the Energy and Basic Materials led, each gaining more than 2% on the session. Stocks in high-dividend, defensive industries such as Utilities and Telecoms lagged, each closing lower for the day.
Not to be outdone, the NASDAQ Composite index added 34.18 or 0.69% to 5,022.82. With the gains, the NASDAQ erased all of its losses for the calendar year.
The top performer on the Dow was Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which jumped 4.73 or 3.11% to 56.92. Goldman shares rose sharply on Tuesday, one day after the company announced the elimination of 55 workers in their fourth round of layoffs this year. In total, the Wall Street bank has laid off approximately 405 employees in 2016, according to the Labor Department, marking its steepest total since 2008. The worst performer was Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which fell 0.79 or 1.07% to 73.27. On Monday, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) unveiled a plan to offer free weeklong shipping to select online customers in an effort to counter the effects of Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) second annual Prime Day. Amazon, meanwhile, surged to an all-time high of 757.34 during Tuesday's Prime Day celebration before closing at 748.69, down 5.09 or 0.68% for the session.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX), which added 5.30 or 22.00% to 29.39. Seagate Technology extended sharp gains from Monday's after-hour session, after the prominent data storage company reported stronger than expected preliminary results for its fourth quarter and outlined a comprehensive restructuring plan to layoff 6,500 global workers by the end of 2017. The worst performer was Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST), which fell 1.43 or 3.15% to 43.93. While Fastenal has soared more than 15% since early-February, the industrial safety and construction supplies company has given up some of its gains over the last three months.
Since the Dow last hit an all-time high 14 months ago,McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) rank among the top performers, each soaring by more than 18%. Concurrently, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has lagged as the worst Dow component over the period, falling by approximately 20%.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 2,198-846 margin