Major Averages Showing Notable Move To The Upside

(RTTNews) - After recovering from an initial move to the downside, stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major average have all turned positive, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 bouncing off their worst levels in almost a month.

Despite lingering monetary policy uncertainty, interest rate-sensitive utilities stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day. Reflecting the strength in the sector, the Dow Jones Utilities Average has advanced by 1.4 percent.

PSEG (PEG) and American Electric Power (AEP) are turning in two of the utilities sector's best performances, climbing by 2.3 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.

Considerable strength has also emerged among energy stocks, which are moving higher along with the price of crude oil. With crude for October delivery jumping $1.25 to $94.17 a barrel, the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index is up by 1.6 percent.

Semiconductor stocks are also regaining some ground following the weakness seen in the previous session, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Recently, the major averages have seen some further upside, reaching new highs for the session. The Dow is up 88.97 point or 0.5 percent at 17,120.11, the Nasdaq s up 16.79 points or 0.4 percent at 4,535.69 and the S&P 500 is up 12.62 points or 0.6 percent at 1,996.75.