US stocks trend higher, Nasdaq hits fresh record high

Major US equity indices opened higher on Tuesday, with tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index leading the gains and hitting fresh record high immediately after the opening bell.

The markets snapped a string of losses and were supported by robust corporate earnings. Today’s strong up-move was led by blowout results from Google’s parent Alphabet that triggered a strong rally across high-growth technology stocks, which along with a global wave of risk-on trade remained supportive of the early buoyant sentiment.  

The second-quarter earnings season will continue to dominate the near-term price-action as investors look forward to the busiest week in terms of corporate results to be announced this week.  

Strong earnings have been one of the key factors partly offsetting growing concerns over a full-blown US-China trade war, which will another issue on investors radar, especially after the US President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday that “tariffs are the greatest.”

At the time of writing this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up around 140-points to 25,184 and the broader S&P 500 Index added nearly 20-points to 2,827. Meanwhile, Nasdaq outperformed the broader markets and added over 70-points to move past the 7,900 mark.