Stocks climbed higher Tuesday as major companies continued to post strong third-quarter earnings reports, easing investor concerns over the state of the U.S. economic recovery. The S&P 500 rose for a fifth straight session, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added nearly 200 points and the Nasdaq climbed over 100 points higher.
The S&P 500 and Dow now stand less than 1% from both their respective all-time highs.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.74% or +33.17 points to 4,519.63
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.56% or +198.70 points to 35,457.31
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.71% or +107.28 points to 15,129.09
Facebook taps Coinbase to help with cryptocurrency wallet project:
Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) launched its new digital wallet for cryptocurrencies called Novi on Tuesday with the help of Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN). The cryptocurrency exchange said it would be store the cryptocurrencies that Facebook will offer to users who sign up for the early test version of the wallet via its Coinbase Custody service.
Novi will enable users to send and receive month abroad instantly, securely and without fees, Facebook said in a statement. The crypto wallet is being rolled out in a pilot program in the United States and Guatemala.
First Bitcoin ETF debuts on the NYSE, boosting the crypto's value:
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSE: BITO) officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday to become the first-ever U.S. exchange-traded fund to invest in Bitcoin futures.
The fund allows investors to bet on the expected changes in the price of Bitcoin, due to the ETF being a derivatives-based fund. However, this ETF does not enable investors to hold the token directly, only giving traders exposure to the cryptocurrency's price movement.
The ETF's launch caused Bitcoin prices to jump this month, bringing the token above $64,000 to near its all-time high reached back in April.
Housing starts decline in September:
U.S. housing starts dropped in September compared to August as labor market issues and rising prices weighed on construction activity.
New residential homebuilding declined by 1.6% last month, the Commerce Department said in its monthly report published Tuesday, bringing housing starts down to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.555 million--the lowest in five months. August's housing starts were also downwardly revised, rising by just 1.2% versus the 3.9% previously reported.
Building permits, which track future construction projects, sank by 7.7% in September over the prior month. August's building permits were also downwardly revised to an increase of 5.6% from the 6.0% gain previously posted.
Here's how market benchmarks started trading soon after open:
S&P 500 Index: +0.34% or +15.19 points to 4,501.65
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.28% or +98.67 points to 35,357.28
Nasdaq Composite Index: +0.29% or +42.93 points to 15,065.35