U.S. stocks jumped Tuesday as a slump in oil prices and an upbeat report on the housing sector woke up buyers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was adding 145 points, or 1.2%, to 12,527, putting the blue-chip index back in to positive territory for the year. The S&P 500 was gaining 15.5 points, or 1.1%, at 1440, and the Nasdaq Composite was rising 33.5 points, or 1.4%, to 2455.
Helping the market's mood was a drop of $1.29 in oil futures to $64.65 a barrel. Most other commodities fell, as well, including a decline of 17 cents in the price of natural gas to $7.50 per million British thermal units.
I think the easing of Mid-east tensions was the primary reason for the rally. Oil prices are a big contributor to inflationary pressure. As oil prices come down, inflationary pressures back-off which in turn gives the Fed more leeway with interest rate policy.
Here are the charts. Notice the initial jump followed by a really narrow trading range.
