Investing.com - U.S. traders returned on Tuesday from a holiday weekend to continue the recovery in stocks for a second-day running, while investors digested unencouraging macro data, contemplated the possibility of eventual cuts in oil production and awaited more signs from the Federal Reserve.
Wall Street continued to register gains at 16:44GMT or 10:44ET with the Nasdaq 100 leading the move higher with a 1.49% jump, the S&P 500 trading up 0.95% and the Dow 30 trailing the pack with a 0.71% rise.
The two-day recovery came after a bad start for U.S. stocks that still remained down around 8% for the year and with a light economic calendar.
The Empire State manufacturing index contracted for the seventh straight month in a row in February. Though the deceleration of -16.6 marked an improvement from January’s reading of -19.4, it still missed the consensus estimate of -10.0.
On the index, a reading above 0.0 indicates improving general business conditions, below indicates worsening conditions.
Meanwhile, the NAHB housing market index also disappointed with a drop to 58.
The measure of homebuilder sentiment was only expected to slip to 61.
Despite having registered a rally early on Tuesday, oil prices turned lower as experts ruled out that a proposed agreement to freeze output by Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela would lead to an overall cut in production.
Furthermore, the US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, erased losses, trading up 0.14%, as a new survey showed experts expected the country’s central bank to increase rates twice this year.
The Reuters poll of more than 80 experts showed expectations for another rate hike in the second quarter with an additional increase forecast for later in the year.
Meanwhile, investors awaited the publication of the minutes of the Fed’s last meeting scheduled for Wednesday.