U.S. equities and stock exchange traded funds surged Tuesday toward previous records, with the Nasdaq Composite crossing over the 6,000 mark for the first time, on continued political relief after the French election results, upbeat earnings reports and speculation about President Donald Trump’s corporate tax reform.
The S&P 500 Index, along with related funds including the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV) and Vanguard 500 Index (NYSEArca: VOO), were up 0.7% Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQ), which tracks the widely followed NASDAQ-100, gained 0.8% and made a new record high.
Supporting the bounce in U.S. equities, corporate earnings showed sustained strength among U.S. companies. Bank of America Merrill Lync (NYSE: BAC) pointed out that share of companies beating estimates for both per-share earnings and sales rising to its highest level since 2012.
For instance, Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) boosted its forecasts for the year. McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) reported a rise in sales.