Stocks And Oil Extend Gains, Wall Street Sets Records

US stocks kept up their record run on Tuesday with the Nasdaq topping 15,000 for the first time, while oil prices extended their rally.

Across the Atlantic, markets in Europe ended mixed, but Asian stocks also rebounded.

Positive earnings reports and upbeat US economic data underpinned the third straight winning session for Wall Street, and the broad-based S&P 500 and tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index each scored record closes.

Even amid the rapid spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments said sentiment has shifted to the view that the worst is over.

And with all eyes on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's scheduled speech on Friday, markets are convinced the central bank will keep stimulus in place for an extended period, even if it makes some changes to policy.

"The bulls showed up again and defeated any bearish pressure on the market," Sarhan told AFP. "It's a tug of war between the bulls and the bears, and bears won last week but now the bulls win that fight."

US government data showed solid gains in new home sales in July, which followed a similar increase in existing home sales.

The US economy could get more support from President Joe Biden, after the House of Representatives advanced a resolution after markets closed bringing his nearly $5 trillion in spending measures closer to approval.

London and Frankfurt ended the day modestly higher, with Frankfurt boosted by news of an upgrade to German economic growth.

The data showed strong consumer spending helped the Germany economy grow 1.6 percent for the second quarter, or three months to June, 0.1 percentage points from the prior estimate.

Paris shed 0.3 percent as luxury stocks slid.

Asia received a strong boost from a call by China's central bank for more economic support and a move to keep borrowing costs down.

Markets have enjoyed a strong start to the week, further helped by bargain-hunting following a recent sell-off caused by worries that the Delta variant could slow the recovery and expectations the Fed will soon begin tapering financial support.

Oil markets extended the previous day's surge of more than five percent, which had marked the best daily performance in nine months as recovery hopes lifted demand expectations.

The commodity had been suffering hefty losses in August on worries about Delta, but observers forecast prices will get back on track.