US close: Dow Jones ends session more than 600 points higher

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday as traders returned from the Juneteenth federal holiday in a more positive mood despite ongoing recessionary fears.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.15% at 30,530.25, while the S&P 500 was 2.45% firmer at 3,764.79, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.51% stronger at 11,069.30.

The Dow closed 641.47 points higher on Tuesday, easily reversing losses recorded on Friday as fears of a potential economic slowdown weighed on sentiment.

Energy prices were in focus on Tuesday, with Brent crude futures trading 0.43% higher at $114.62 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate futures gaining 0.99% to $110.65 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies also continued to draw an amount of investor attention, with Bitcoin falling to a new low for the year of $17,601.58 over the weekend before clawing its way back to over $20,900 on Tuesday.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note moved almost seven basis points higher to sit at 3.304%.

On the macro front, the Chicago Fed's national activity index fell to an eight-month low of 0.01 in May, down from 0.40 in April, as production-related indicators and the personal consumption and housing categories weighed on the index.

Elsewhere, existing home sales declined 3.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.41m in May, according to the National Association of Realtors, the lowest since June 2020 as sales fell for a fourth straight month amid rising mortgage rates and decades-high inflation.

The Federal Reserve will also be in focus throughout the week, with chairman Jerome Powell beginning his Congressional testimony on Wednesday.

In the corporate space, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk confirmed the electric carmaker would be cutting its salaried workforce by 10% over the next three months but stated that hourly staff numbers were still expected to grow, while foods giant Kellogg revealed it will split into three public companies by spinning off its North American cereal and plant-based divisions.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $481.78 6.57%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $155.25 4.63%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $87.96 3.95%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $136.20 3.53%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $122.40 3.48%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $50.70 3.41%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $136.45 3.09%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $254.45 2.75%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $116.03 2.65%
Visa Inc. (V) $194.70 2.47%