Major Average Post Modest Gains For Third Straight Session

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure at the start of trading on Tuesday, stocks moved modestly higher over the course of the trading day. The gains on the day extended the moderate upward move seen in the two previous sessions.

Brokerage stocks showed a substantial move to the upside over the course of the trading day, driving the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index up by 2.5 percent. With the gain, the index ended the session at its best closing level in over two months.

E*Trade (ETFC), Charles Schwab (SCHW), and TD Ameritrade (AMTD) turned in some of the brokerage sector's best performances.

Significant strength also emerged among banking stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Banks Index. Northern Trust (NTRS) and State Street (STT) posted notable gains.

Airline stocks also moved notably higher on the day, regaining some ground after pulling back sharply over the past few sessions. The NYSE Arca Airline Index advanced by 1.2 percent but remains well off its recent highs.

Electronic storage, steel, and internet stocks also saw some strength on the day, while modest weakness was visible among biotech stocks.

While buying interest was somewhat subdued, the major averages all closed in positive territory. The Dow edged up 27.48 points or 0.2 percent to 16,808.49, the Nasdaq rose 16.13 points or 0.4 percent to 4,337.23 and the S&P 500 crept up 4.21 points or 0.2 percent to 1,941.99.