Out with the candles, in with the gains. After some hesitation at the start of trading on Tuesday, investors drove U.S. stock indexes higher by midday, marking the first anniversary of the stock market's recovery with modest gains.
At noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 32 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 10,584. The broader S&P 500 was up 4 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 1143.
Most of the 10 subindexes within the S&P 500 were higher, led by the 1.5 per cent gain by telecom services. Industrials rose 0.7 per cent, while financials and information technology stocks rose 0.5 per cents.
Typically defensive stocks were the biggest laggards, with utilities falling 0.3 per cent and health care stocks down less than 0.1 per cent.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 16 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 11,948.
Commodities producers were among the biggest drags on the index, with energy stocks down 0.3 per cent and materials down 0.2 per cent, after commodity prices dipped slightly.
Financials fell 0.2 per cent, with Bank of Nova Scotia falling 1.1 per cent - erasing an earlier gain after the bank reported better-than-expected earnings in its fiscal first quarter.