Stocks jumped on Tuesday, building on the strong performance from the previous session, on the back of further tech gains and solid economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained positive by Tuesday noon, 106.36 points to 28,099.69.
The S&P 500 progressed 31.57 points to 3,415.11.
The NASDAQ progressed 170.12 points, or 1.5%, to 11,226.77, continuing its recovery from the index's worst week since March.
Apple improved 1.4%, and Microsoft rose 1.6%. Amazon rose 1% and Alphabet climbed 1.9%. Netflix gained 3.3% and Facebook traded higher by 2.2%. Tesla shares, meanwhile, popped 5.8% after surging more than 12% on Monday.
Sentiment was boosted on Monday by positive news on the vaccine front, with AstraZeneca resuming its phase three trial in the United Kingdom and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla saying over the weekend the company should be able to present key data from its trial to regulators by the end of October.
Optimism about the United States getting a better handle on the virus was a major reason that LPL Financial raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 to a range of 3,450–3,500 on Monday, according to equity strategists. That target implies an upside of roughly 2% for the market over the rest of the year.
In the U.S., the Empire State Manufacturing index came in at 17 for September, rebounding from a print of 3.7 in August. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the index to come in at 7.
Stocks also got a boost after China reported its first retail sales increase for the year. The country's National Bureau of Statistics said Chinese retail sales rose 0.5% in August.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were lower, raising yields to 0.68% from Monday's 0.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices increased 67 cents to $37.93 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $4.10 to $1,959.60 U.S. an ounce.