Tuesday, the Dow was up 112.22 points (0.45%) at 25,299.92, the NASDAQ closed 51.19 points (0.65%) higher at 7,870.89, and the S&P 500 increased 18.03 points (0.64%) to 2,839.96. The Russell 2000 climbed 17.26 points (1.03%) to 1,692.58, and the Wilshire 5000 gained 211.03 points (0.72%) to finish at 29,639.89.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note was down 4/32, increasing its yield to 2.894%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond decreased 9/32, bringing its yield up to 3.062%.

ON THIS DATE: In 1848, the dental chair was patented by M. Waldo Hanchett. In 1877, Thomas Edison wrote to the president of the Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The letter stated that the word, “hello” would be a more appropriate greeting than “ahoy” when answering the telephone. In 1911, the product Crisco was introduced by Procter & Gamble Company. In 1914, the Panama Canal was officially opened to commercial traffic as an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The first vessel to pass through the canal was the American cargo and passenger ship SS Ancon. In 1939, “The Wizard of Oz” premiered in Hollywood. In 1947, India became independent from Britain and was divided into the countries of India and Pakistan. India had been under British rule about 200 years. In 1948, The Republic of Korea was proclaimed. In 1948, CBS-TV inaugurated the first nightly news broadcast with anchorman Douglas Edwards. In 1961, East German workers began construction of the Berlin Wall. In 1994, the Social Security Administration became an independent government agency. It had been a part of the Department of Health and Human Services agency. In 2000, a group of 100 people from North Korea arrived in South Korea for temporary reunions with relatives they had not seen for half a century. Also, a group of 100 South Koreans visited the North. In 2001, astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our own. They had discovered two planets orbiting a star in the Big Dipper.

WEDNESDAY WISDOM: “Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.”—Simone de Beauvoir, French writer, political activist and feminist