Major Averages Climb Firmly Into Positive Territory

(RTTNews) - After initially showing some volatility, stocks have moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The rally on the day has partly offset the sell-off seen in recent sessions, although the major averages remain well off their mid-September highs.

While most of the major sectors are moving higher on the day, airline stocks have shown a particularly strong move back to the upside after falling sharply in recent sessions. The NYSE Arca Airline Index has surged up by 4.5 percent, bouncing off a nearly eight-month intraday low.

American Airlines (AAL), JetBlue (JBLU), and Southwest (LUV) are turning in some of the airline sector's best performances in mid-day trading.

Trucking stocks are also seeing considerable strength, resulting in a 4.1 percent jump by the Dow Jones Trucking Index. J.B. Hunt (JBHT) is posting a standout gain after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings.

Significant strength has also emerged among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 3.5 percent gain being posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The gain by the index comes after it ended the previous session at its lowest closing level in eight months.

Railroad, steel, oil service, and commercial real estate stocks are also turning in strong performances amid the broad based rally on Wall Street.

Currently, the major averages are posting strong gains, near their best levels of the day. The Dow is up 123.75 points or 0.8 percent at 16,444.82, the Nasdaq is up 60.55 points or 1.4 percent at 4,274.21 and the S&P 500 is up 21.29 points or 1.1 percent at 1,896.03.