U.S. Stocks Rise Further as Banks Climb With Interest Rates

U.S. stocks continue to rise Tuesday as banks move higher along with bond yields. Chemicals company DowDuPont is up after it made changes to its breakup plans, and Apple is wobbling as investors wait for details on the next iPhone. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished at an all-time high Monday and other major indexes are also trading above their recent record highs.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 7 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,495 as of 1:05 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average added 67 points, or 0.3 percent, to 22,124. The Nasdaq composite picked up 15 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,447. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gained 8 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,423 after the government said job openings and hiring grew in July.

Stocks are coming off their best day since late April. They rose Monday as Hurricane Irma weakened without doing as much damage as some forecasts had predicted last week. Investors were also relieved that tensions between the U.S. and North Korea didn’t get any worse following a national holiday there.

BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.17 percent after it jumped to 2.13 percent Monday. That helped banks, as Bank of America added 59 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $23.95 and U.S. Bancorp gained 97 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $51.86. Companies that pay big dividends lagged the market, as income-seeking investors were drawn to bonds. Utilities and real estate investment trusts took sharp losses.

GOOD CHEMISTRY: DowDuPont, which was formed when two of the world’s largest chemical companies combined in August, made some changes to its breakup plan after activist investors pushed for revisions. The changes will affect its materials science and specialty products units. DowDuPont will ultimately break up into three public companies. One will focus on agriculture, one on material science and one on specialty products. DowDuPont gained $1.53, or 2.3 percent, to $68.38.

JOB OPENINGS: Job openings posted by U.S. employers rose 0.9 percent to 6.2 million in July, the Labor Department said. That’s highest on records dating to 2000. Hiring also increased and more people quit their jobs, which often means they are leaving for jobs that pay better. It’s also a sign the economy should keep growing.

Retailers rose as investors calculated that people will have more money to spend. Gap jumped $1.82, or 7 percent, to $27.76. Discount retailer Ross Stores added $2.03, or 3.4 percent, to $61.30. Amazon rose $3.87 to $981.83.

ANSWER THE CALL: Investors expect Apple to announce details on the 10th-anniversary edition of the iPhone at a company presentation Tuesday. True to its history, the company hasn’t given many details about the new version of the phone. But the iPhone is the source of most of Apple’s revenue and expectations from fans and investors are high. Apple slid 23 cents to $161.27 as the event began.

Several chipmakers associated with Apple moved higher. Western Digital picked up $1.68, or 1.9 percent, to $89.06 and Micron Technology gained 69 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $34.13.

TEVA SURGE CONTINUES: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world’s largest generic company, rose again after it agreed to sell a device to surgical product and contact lens maker Cooper Cos. Cooper will pay Teva $1.1 billion. Teva said earlier this year that it would sell some businesses to pay off debt. Its stock gained 69 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $19.19 and Cooper fell $5.39, or 2.1 percent, to $248.

Teva soared 19 percent Monday after it named a new CEO, but even with those gains, it’s down is down 47 percent this year as the company deals with falling prices for generic drugs and competition that’s hurting revenue from its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone.

ENERGY: Energy companies traded higher as benchmark U.S. crude added 21 cents to $48.28 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, gained 41 cents to $54.25 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 110.04 yen from 109.34 yen. The euro edged up to $1.1965 from $1.1962. The British pound climbed to $1.3272 from $1.3173, its highest level in a year. That move came after inflation figures came in stronger than analysts expected, which left investors thinking the Bank of England may raise interest rates sooner than they had anticipated.

OVERSEAS: Germany’s DAX rose 0.4 percent while the CAC 40 in France gained 0.6 percent. The British FTSE 100 slipped 0.2 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.2 percent as the yen weakened again. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.3 percent and the Hang Seng of Hong Kong was little changed.