Fueled by energy prices and vaccine optimism, stocks hover near record levels
CBSN
Stocks were rising slightly in early trading Tuesday, continuing to hover near record levels, as energy prices helped push oil and gas companies higher. The full approval a day earlier of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine was continuing to provide support for the market.
The S&P 500 index was up 0.1% as of 12:30 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.3%. The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks was up 0.5%. Oil prices were up 2% in early trading, continuing to recover from a decline earlier in the month. Halliburton, Occidental Petroleum and Valero Energy rose 3% or more.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.