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Stocks are seeing moderate strength during trading on Tuesday, regaining ground following the modest weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages have all moved to the upside, although buying interest appears somewhat subdued.

The Dow has reached a new high for the session in recent trading and is currently up 114.08 points or 0.3 percent at 39,427.72. The Nasdaq is up 50.98 points or 0.3 percent at 16,435.45 and the S&P 500 is up 15.03 points or 0.3 percent at 5,233.22.

The rebound on Wall Street may partly reflect optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement last week.

While the Fed left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, officials maintained their forecast for three rate cuts this year.

Following the Fed announcement, the chances of a 25 basis point rate cut in June have rebounded to 64.4 percent, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

The major averages rallied to record highs on the heels of the Fed announcement last week, leading to some profit taking over two previous sessions.

Selling pressure remained subdued, however, as traders seem more concerned about missing out on further upside than suggestions the markets are overbought.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report this morning showing a notable increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of February.

The report said durable goods orders jumped by 1.4 percent in February after plummeting by a revised 6.9 percent in January.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to shoot up by 1.3 percent compared to the 6.2 percent slump that had been reported for the previous month.

Orders for transportation equipment led the way higher, surging by 3.3 percent in February after plunging by 18.3 percent in January.

Excluding the rebound in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders climbed by 0.5 percent in February after falling by 0.3 percent in January. Economists had expected a 0.4 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board released a separate report showing a slight deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of March.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slipped to 104.7 in March from a downwardly revised 104.8 in February.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to come in unchanged compared to the 106.7 originally reported for the previous month.

Sector News

While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, computer hardware stocks have shown a strong move to the upside. Reflecting the strength in the sector, the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index is up by 1.7 percent.

Data storage company Seagate Technology (STX) has led the sector higher, surging by 8.9 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the company’s stock to Upgrade from Overweight.

Gold and airline stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while energy stocks are giving back ground amid a modest decrease by the price of crude oil.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index closed marginally lower and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell by 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index has climbed by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved slightly lower over the course of the session after seeing initial strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 1.2 basis points at 4.265 percent.

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