NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose on Tuesday to post its highest closing level since Feb. 1, the day before the market began a sharp extended selloff, as strong results from PepsiCo boosted optimism about the earnings season.
The consumer staples index climbed 1.3 percent and provided the biggest lift to the S&P 500, driven by PepsiCo, which gained 4.8 percent, while Procter & Gamble rose 2.5 percent and Coca-Cola was up 1.3 percent.
The S&P 500 has risen about 3 percent in the last four sessions, with upbeat news on the economy as well as earnings helping to offset worries about escalating trade tensions between the United States and China. The two countries slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on $34 billion of each other’s goods on Friday.
Concerns over trade resurfaced after Tuesday’s close, with S&P futures falling late following a Bloomberg report, citing sources, that President Donald Trump is preparing to release a list of an additional $200 billion in Chinese products to be hit with tariffs.
“It’s not an inconsequential move,” said Stephen Massocca, senior vice president at Wedbush Securities in San Francisco, of the decline in futures. “This trade war escalating is not good news, and the market won’t see it as good news.”
The S&P 500 e-mini futures ended the session down 0.1 percent and were off 0.5 percent as trading resumed for the overnight session.
During the regular session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 143.07 points, or 0.58 percent, to end at 24,919.66, while the Nasdaq Composite added 3.00 points, or 0.04 percent, to 7,759.20. The S&P 500 gained 9.67 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,793.84.
The benchmark index is now up 4.5 percent since the end of 2017. Worries over rising bond yields and potentially
