The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were on track to close at record highs Tuesday as a rally in crude oil boosted the energy sector.
The S&P 500 was up 0.78%, just below its intraday record of 2,155 achieved earlier in the day. The Dow climbed 0.68%, just shy of its own intraday record of 18,363. The Nasdaq added 0.77% to erase all 2016 losses.
For the first time in 14 months, the S&P 500 closed at a record high on Monday, building upon major gains enjoyed at the end of last week. Stocks had been lifted by a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report for June which brought relief over the state of the U.S. economy.
A crude rally supported Wall Street's gains. Oil jumped after a report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries forecast an increase in demand and a decline in production in 2017. The group, which accounts for around a third of the world's supply, expects demand for its crude to increase to 33 million barrels a day next year.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed 4.6% higher at $46.80 a barrel on Tuesday, a nearly one-week high.
"Petroleum prices have turned higher in Tuesday trade supported by further gains in the equity markets, a softer U.S. dollar, and an OPEC forecast for the market to rebalance in 2017," said Timothy Evans, energy futures analyst at Citi. "While we will credit the market with achieving a balance for 2017 as a significant improvement over the past two years of surplus, we note this scenario also suggests it will be 2018 before we see global inventories trending lower."
