U.S. stock indexes ticked higher in early trading on Tuesday and tacked on a bit more to their records set a day earlier. Trading was again very quiet, with only modest moves for bond yields, commodities and other markets. Stock markets were closed in Germany, China and South Korea for holidays.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up by 1 point to 2,530, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 28, or 0.1 percent, to 22,588, and the Nasdaq composite rose 10, or 0.2 percent, to 6,529. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks inched down by less than a point to 1,509. All four indexes set a record on Monday after a reading on U.S. manufacturing growth hit its highest level in 13 years.
BUILDING HIGHER: Homebuilder Lennar jumped to one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after it reported stronger sales and earnings for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Interest rates remain relatively low, and the strengthening job market is helping to convince more people to buy homes. Lennar rose $1.72, or 3.3 percent, to $54.54.
REVVED UP: General Motors and Ford Motor were also among the market’s leaders after each reported strong sales growth in the United States for last month. GM climbed $1.03, or 2.4 percent, to $43.18, and Ford gained 21 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $12.31.
ON THE WAITING LINE: Tesla fell after the car company said production bottlenecks meant fewer of its Model 3 cars are coming off the line than expected. The production miss in the third quarter raises questions about whether Tesla will be able to meet future targets for its much-anticipated car.
Tesla fell $6.38, or 1.9 percent, to $335.15
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 14 cents to $50.44 per barrel. That follows a $1.09-per-barrel slide on Monday as worries mount that the world has more than oil available than it needs. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, rose 10 cents to $56.22 a barrel.
YIELDS: Bonds prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.34 percent. The two-year yield fell to 1.47 percent from 1.49 percent, and the 30-year yield inched up to 2.88 percent from 2.87 percent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar inched up to 112.83 Japanese yen from 112.65 yen late Monday. The euro rose to $1.1757 from $1.1746, and the British pound dipped to $1.3251 from $1.3286.
MARKETS OVERSEAS: France’s CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent, the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.2 percent and Germany’s DAX was closed for a national holiday.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1 percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.2 percent.
