Wall Street extends gains led by financials

Major equity indexes preserved their bullish momentum and recorded gains for the second day in a row on Tuesday.

The relief rally that started on Monday amid easing concerns over North Korea and Irma's negative impact on the economic growth carried over to Tuesday. Rising US T-bond yields lifted the financials .SPSY more than 1%, making it the best performing sector of the S&P 500.

"It's a better environment for risk assets. As long as these two issues -- North Korea and the hurricane -- have receded as concerns, it gives investors a green light to focus on stronger fundamentals," David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston, told Reuters. Today's data from the U.S. showed that job openings jumped to a record high in July at 6.2 million, suggesting that the labor market continued to tighten despite a weaker-than-expected NFP reading in August.

Investors were also focused on Apple's announcements in the second half of the day. Following wild fluctuations, Apple's shares closed the day 0.42% lower at 160.82.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained rose 61.49 points, or 0.28%, to 22,118.86, the S&P 500 added 8.63 points, or 0.3%, to close at a new record high at  2,496.49 while the Nasdaq Composite was up 22.02 points, or 0.34%, at 6,454.28.

Headlines from the NA session:

• US: Hiring intentions remained strong ahead of disruptions - Wells Fargo
• Bitcoin is having difficulty recovering amid subdued trading action, remains above $4000
• Japanese PM Abe: Intend to go ahead with a consumption tax hike in Oct 2019 - Nikkei
• Why Hurricane Harvey won’t derail the US economy - ING
• US Small Business Optimism rises above consensus in August  - Wells Fargo
• US Dollar fades the spike above 92.00
• US: Job openings (6.2 million), hires, and separations little changed in July
• ECB's Constancio: We will continue using forward guidance to some extent