Among the major gainers, Apple stock stands out

The increase in retail sales in the United States, as well as industrial production in the eurozone and the ZEW index of confidence among German investors, prompted a strengthening of stock indices on Wall Street on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones index rose by 31.33 points or 0.2 percent, to 15,451 points, the S&P 500 by 0.28 percent, to 1,694 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq by 0.39 percent, to 3,684 points.

Retail sales in the United States increased for the fourth consecutive month in July, signaling that American households are increasing consumption as employment rises.

Additionally, industrial production in the eurozone rose in June in line with expectations, while the sentiment of German analysts and investors for August exceeded expectations.

“Movements on Wall Street reflect better economic data and market acceptance that the Fed will soon reduce purchases of government and corporate bonds,” says Quincy Krosby, a strategist at Prudential Financial.

The President of the Fed in Atlanta, Dennis Lockhart, stated yesterday that the U.S. central bank could begin to reduce its bond-buying program as early as September, but that the indicators are still varied enough that a detailed strategy for withdrawing monetary stimulus cannot be disclosed.

Investors are closely monitoring signals regarding when and by how much the Fed will reduce its bond-buying program, which is worth $85 billion per month. This program has driven the S&P 500 index to record levels.

Among the major gainers, Apple stock stands out, with its price jumping 4.8 percent to $489.57, the highest level since the end of January, after major investor Carl Icahn announced via Twitter that he had created a ‘large position’ in the stock, deemed it significantly undervalued, and reported that he had ‘a nice conversation’ with the company’s CEO Tim Cook about the company undertaking a stock buyback.

On European exchanges, stock prices reached their highest level in the last 2.5 months on Tuesday, following better-than-expected data from the eurozone and Germany.

Investors are optimistically awaiting today’s eurozone GDP data, which could signal an exit from the prolonged recession.

The London FTSE index strengthened by 0.57 percent yesterday, to 6,611 points, the Frankfurt DAX by 0.68 percent, to 8,415 points, and the Paris CAC by 0.51 percent, to 4,092 points.