The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a gain of 740 points on Tuesday for a second straight record close. Benchmark index S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also finished the day in the green.
Dow Jones moved above 40,000 on Friday and closed at an all-time high of 40,211.72 on Monday. Its rally continued on Tuesday with a 1.85% or 742.76 points gain that pushed the blue-collar index to 40,954.48.
A major contribution to Dow Jones’ surge was UnitedHealth (UNH), which soared 6.5% to close at $548.87 per share thanks to record second-quarter earnings results.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.64% or 35.98 points to close at another record of 5,667.20 points. Nasdaq reached 18,534.27 at one point before coming down to 18,509.34 close, which was still a 0.2% gain for the day.
The stocks performed well across the board on the back of increased odds for interest rate cuts during the Federal Reserve’s September meeting. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, traders are pricing in a 100% chance that the rate cut is coming, compared to 70% last month. Additionally, Census Bureau data showed that retail sales came flat in June, which was better than economists expected and showed that the price pressure is easing off.