Major Averages Close Sharply Higher, More Than Offset Yesterday's Losses

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session notably lower, stocks showed a substantial move back to the upside during trading on Tuesday. The rebound by the markets reflected easing concerns about the situation in Ukraine.

Most of the major sectors showed strong moves to the upside on the day, reflecting the broad based buying interest on Wall Street.

Tobacco stocks turned in some of the market's best performances, driving the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index up by 3.5 percent to a three-month closing high. The strength in the sector was partly due to reports on merger talks between Reynolds American (RAI) and Lorillard (LO).

Significant strength was also visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. The index more than offset the loss posted on Monday, reaching its best closing level in well over a month.

Telecom, airline, software, and computer hardware stock also showed notable moves back to the upside after coming under pressure on Monday.

The major averages ended the day sharply higher, more than offsetting yesterday's losses. The Dow jumped 227.85 points or 1.4 percent to 16,395.88, the Nasdaq soared 74.67 points or 1.8 percent to 4,351.97 and the S&P 500 shot up 28.18 points or 1.5 percent to 1,873.91.