Major Averages Extend Gains After Midday Stall - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After a positive start to the day, the major averages advanced further around midday before running out of steam. Despite the lackluster afternoon performance, markets on Wall Street ended Tuesday's session with modest gains, adding to the gains at the start of the trading week.

The Dow closed up by 63.60 points or 0.25 percent at 25,822.29, the Nasdaq rose 38.17 points or 0.49 percent at 7,859.17 and the S&P 500 gained 5.91 points or 0.21 percent at 2,862.96.

Stocks continued to benefit from optimism about the upcoming trade talks between the U.S. and China, even though President Donald Trump said he doesn't expect much progress from the talks.

Trading remained somewhat subdued, however, due to a lack of U.S. economic data.

In the coming days, trading may be impacted by reaction to reports on new and existing home sales and durable goods orders as well as the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index crept up by 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

The majority of the European markets also moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index rose 0.43 percent and the French CAC 40 Index gained 0.54 percent. However, the FTSE 100 of the UK finished with a loss of 0.34 percent.