Dow Holds Higher on First Trading Day of 2018 Nasdaq Surges

Stocks rose on Tuesday, Jan. 2, the first trading day of 2018, as stocks in the consumer discretionary and energy sectors posted solid gains.

U.S. equities have risen for three of the past four trading sessions as companies count the benefits of U.S. tax cuts and take advantage of the dollar's worst run slump 2003.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average came off its highs for the day but remained up by 43 points, or 0.18%, on Tuesday. General Electric Co. (GE) , Intel Corp. (INTC) , Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) were leading the index higher.

The S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the Nasdaq rose 1.19%. The tech-heavy index was having its best day since November.

The Dow rose more than 25% in 2017.

The dollar index, a measure of the greenback's strength against a basket of six global currencies, fell 0.4% to 91.89, trading near its September lows.

Europe's Stoxx 600 index, the broadest measure of regional shares, fell 0.21%.

Stocks in Asia rose broadly after a stronger-than-expected reading for manufacturing activity around the region, including China, where the Caixin/Markit Manufacturing PMI rose to a four-month high of 51.5.

BP PLC (BP) said Tuesday its fourth-quarter earnings will be hit by a one-off charge from recent changes in the U.S. tax code that will see the corporate rate fall to 21% from 35%, but added that future earnings will be positively impacted by the tax reforms.

The U.K. oil giant forecast said the roughly $1.5 billion charge will be taken in the fourth quarter of 2017. BP said details of final actual charge will be released on Feb. 6, when it issues its earnings report.

American depositary receipts of BP rose 0.4%.

Shares of Netflix Inc. (NFLX) rose 4.4% after Macquarie raised its rating on the streaming service to outperform from neutral.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 1.2% after the tech giant announced over the weekend that its iPhone battery-replacement discount would go into effect immediately, rather than in late January.

On the last day of the calendar year, Disney's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" surpassed "Beauty and the Beast" as the top grossing film in North America in 2017. Disney shares jumped 3%.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) rose 3.3% after being upgraded to overweight by JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil turned slightly lower on Tuesday, falling 0.18% to $60.32 a barrel. WTI crude, the U.S. benchmark, rose 12.5% in 2017.

Apple, General Electric and Abbott are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio.Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells the stocks? Learn more now.

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