XOM Exxon Mobil Corp

By Gunjan Banerji 

Gains in shares of energy companies pushed U.S. stocks higher Tuesday.

Energy stocks rose with oil prices after a senior State Department official said the administration expects all countries to stop imports from Iran by November or risk sanctions.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30.31 points, or 0.1% to 24283.11. The S&P 500 added 5.99 points, or 0.2%, to 2723.06 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 29.62 points, or 0.4%, to 7561.63.

Energy shares posted the biggest gains among the S&P 500's 11 sectors, rising 1.4%. Chevron added $1.55, or 1.3%, to $124.16, while Exxon Mobil climbed 90 cents, or 1.1%, to 80.64 in the Dow industrials.

U.S. crude for August delivery climbed 3.6% to $70.53 a barrel, its highest close in more than a month.

Company-specific news also spurred stock moves Tuesday. General Electric climbed 99 cents, or 7.8%, to 13.74 in the wake of an announcement that it is to jettison its ownership in oil-services firm Baker Hughes and spin off its health-care unit in a strategy shift that will see it focus on power and aviation. It was the stock's biggest percentage increase since April 2015.

Shares of American Express lost 33 cents, or 0.3%, to 98.21 as the company said it was joining forces with Amazon.com to launch a credit card for small businesses.

Tuesday's moves marked a reprieve after trade concerns jolted markets Monday, dragging major U.S. indexes to their worst day in months.

Those worries eased following White House adviser Peter Navarro's Monday afternoon comments on CNBC that analysts said helped assuage fears of an all-out trade war.

Against that backdrop, Harley-Davidson announced plans late Monday to shift more production overseas to avoid European Union tariffs on motorcycles, imposed in response to Trump administration tariffs on European steel and aluminum. The motorcycle company's shares fell 25 cents, or 0.6%, to 41.32 Tuesday as President Donald Trump warned the company against the move, posting their fourth day of declines.

"Things coming out of Washington are causing the market to swing daily, if not hourly," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently remarked that his country would "punch back" against trade restrictions, further spooking investors already fearful of the prospect of a full-blown global trade war.

The Shanghai Composite Index entered a bear market, closing down 0.5% at a fresh two-year low.

The Chinese yuan declined 0.5% against the dollar, after hitting its weakest level this year Monday following remarks from the Chinese central bank that it would reduce the amount of cash it requires banks to hold in reserve, allowing them to boost lending.

The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of 16 others, rose 0.3%.

With the yuan under pressure in recent weeks, analysts have discussed the prospect of Beijing devaluing its currency in the event U.S. tariffs begin to squeeze the world's second-largest economy. Analysts were expecting the yuan to come under further pressure but weren't forecasting a repeat of 2016, when the currency fell 7% during the course of the year.

Some said the recent turbulence was here to stay, despite calmer markets on Tuesday.

"Protectionism and the dollar strength are driving the market right now, " said Eddie Perkin, chief equity investment officer at Eaton Vance. "I think you might see a little bit of more volatility."

-- Bob Davis and David Hodari contributed to this ar ticle.

Write to Gunjan Banerji at Gunjan.Banerji@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2018 19:51 ET (23:51 GMT)

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