US markets closed higher on Tuesday as investors monitored the fragile US-Iran ceasefire and evaluated the latest round of corporate earnings. Traders took support with a report released by the Commerce Department showed sales of new single-family homes in the US rose 7.4% month-over-month to 682,000 in March 2026, exceeding expectations of 650,000 and up from 635,000 in February. Gains were led by the South (+11.1% to 441,000) and the Northeast (+80.0% to 27,000), offsetting declines in the West (-3.5% to 138,000) and Midwest (-5.0% to 76,000). However, gains remain capped as some concern came with a report released by the Labor Department showed job openings in the US fell by 56,000 to 6.866 million in March 2026, above market expectations of 6.84 million. The number of job openings decreased in professional and business services (-318,000) but increased in finance and insurance (+98,000). Traders took a note of the Commerce Department released a report showed the United States trade deficit widened to $60.3 billion in March of 2026 from the revised $57.8 billion gap in the previous month, loosely aligned with market expectations of $60.9 billion to mark the widest deficit so far this year.
Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 356.35 points or 0.73 percent to 49,298.25, S&P 500 added 58.47 points or 0.81 percent to 7,259.22 and Nasdaq gained 258.32 points or 1.03 percent to 25,326.12.
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