(Source: United Press International)
Markets post solid gains
NEW YORK, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. markets posted solid gains Tuesday for the second consecutive trading session, despite a U.S. Census Bureau report that home sales dipped slightly in July.
Sales of new single-family houses dropped 0.7 percent from June's revised rate of 300,000.
On the manufacturing front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said business activity in central-Atlantic states "pulled back" in August with the new orders index down six points to minus 11.
Bargain hunters pushed prices higher on Wall Street. By close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average added 322.11 points, or 2.97 percent, to 11,176.76. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 38.53 points, or 3.43 percent, to 1,162.35. The Nasdaq composite index added 100.68 points, or 4.29 percent, to 2,446.06.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,602 stocks advanced and 473 declined on a volume of 5 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year treasury note fell 12/32 to yield 2.155 percent.
The euro rose to $1.4431 from Monday's $1.4358. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 76.67 yen from Monday's 76.79 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gained 1.22 percent, 104.88, to 8,733.01.
In London, the FTSE 100 index added 34.12 or 0.67 percent to 5,129.42.
Poll: Business economists favor tax hikes
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A strong majority of business economists in a recent poll indicated the U.S. government should include increasing tax revenue as part of its budget plan.
In the poll sponsored by the National Association for Business Economics, 75 percent of the 250 respondents indicated the plan to reduce the budget deficit should include higher taxes, The Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday.
A minority, 19 percent, indicated tax reform should be "revenue neutral," while 5 percent indicated tax revenues should be reduced.
In Washington, Republicans have been adamantly opposed to tax hikes for some businesses and for wealthy Americans, which was the plan favored by the White House.
On Sunday in The Washington Post, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., repeated the assertion that Republicans were opposed to tax hikes, saying the budget deficit should be handled by "a legislative agenda that boosts economic growth through reducing the regulatory and tax burden."
In contrast, 44 percent of the business economists in the survey indicated the budget deficit should be handled with a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes with the majority coming from spending cuts.