Major US stock indices rose Tuesday, as shares of the healthcare sector and the conglomerate sector went up on the eve of the start of the quarterly report season, which is expected later this week.

The focus was also on the United States. The survey of vacancies and turnover of labor (JOLTS) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in November the number of vacancies fell to 5.879 million. The indicator for October was revised downwards to 5.925 million from 5.996 million. Analysts had expected the number of vacancies to increase to 6,038 million The vacancy rate was 3.8%, decreasing by 0.1% compared to October. The number of vacancies has changed little in both the private sector and the government segment. In the sectors, the number of vacancies increased in the retail sector (+88,000), but declined in other services (-64,000), transport, warehousing and utilities (-60,000), as well as in the real estate, rental and leasing (-39,000).

Oil prices rose strongly on Tuesday, reaching a maximum since May 2015. Support for oil had a decline in production, led by OPEC, and expectations of another decline in oil reserves in the US.

Most components of the DOW index finished trading in positive territory (16 out of 30). The leader of growth was the shares of The Boeing Company (BA, + 2.90%). Outsider were shares of Intel Corporation (INTC, -2.75%).

Most sectors of the S & P recorded a rise. The health sector grew most (+ 1.0%). The utilities sector showed the greatest decrease (-0.9%).

At closing:

DJIA + 0.41% 25,386.62 +103.62

Nasdaq + 0.09% 7.163.58 +6.19

S & P + 0.14% 2,751.44 +3.73

U.S. stock-index futures rose slightly on Tuesday, signaling that the 2018 rally, powered by robust economic data and expectations of strong quarterly earnings, could lift the S&P 500 and the Dow to new records on open.

Global Stocks:

Nikkei 23,849.99 +135.46 +0.57%

Hang Seng 31,011.41 +111.88 +0.36%

Shanghai 3,414.83 +5.35 +0.16%

S&P/ASX 6,135.80 +5.40 +0.09%

FTSE 7,731.82 +35.31 +0.46%

CAC 5,521.86 +34.44 +0.63%

DAX 13,410.42 +42.64 +0.32%

Crude $62.09 (+0.58%)

Gold $1,313.80 (-0.50%)

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Amazon (AMZN) target raised to $1400 from $1200 at Piper Jaffray

U.K. stocks closed lower Monday, with shares in retailers and home builders losing ground and helping to pull back London's blue-chip benchmark from the prior session's record high. The FTSE 100 index UKX, -0.36% fell 0.4% to end at 7,696.51 after Friday's finish at a record. Last week, the benchmark rose 0.5%.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at records on Monday as gains in energy and industrials helped the benchmarks finish in positive territory in the first five sessions of 2018 on optimism over a stronger economy and looming fiscal stimulus.

Asian stocks continued their start-of-year rally Tuesday, though Japanese equities pulled back late morning after the Bank of Japan trimmed the size of its bond-repurchase offer in its latest market operation. The 5% reduction to ¥190 billion ($1.7 billion) of bonds maturing in 10-to-25 years was a sign of slight policy tightening by the central bank, and sent the yen jumping.

(index / closing price / change items /% change)

Nikkei +208.20 23714.53 +0.89%

TOPIX +16.52 1880.34 +0.89%

Hang Seng +84.89 30899.53 +0.28%

CSI 300 +21.41 4160.16 +0.52%

Euro Stoxx 50 +8.82 3616.45 +0.24%

FTSE 100 -27.71 7696.51 -0.36%

DAX +48.14 13367.78 +0.36%

CAC 40 +16.67 5487.42 +0.30%

DJIA -12.87 25283.00 -0.05%

S&P 500 +4.56 2747.71 +0.17%

NASDAQ +20.83 7157.39 +0.29%

S&P/TSX -31.79 16317.65 -0.19%