Tuesday, the Dow was up 104.79 points (0.42%) at 24,824.01, the NASDAQ climbed 103.51 points (1.50%) to 7,006.90, and the S&P 500 closed 22.18 points (0.83%) higher at 2,695.79. The Russell 2000 gained 14.50 points (0.94%) to finish at 1,550.01, and the Wilshire 5000 increased 197.01 points (0.71%) to 27,991.18.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 13/32, bringing its yield up to 2.457%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 12/32, increasing its yield to 2.812%.

ON THIS DATE: In 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther. In 1777, the Battle of Princeton took place in the War of Independence, in which George Washington defeated the British forces, led by General Cornwallis. In 1825, the first engineering college in the U.S., Rensselaer School, opened in Troy, New York. It is now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In 1888, the drinking straw was patented by Marvin C. Stone. In 1924, English explorer Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt. In 1938, the March of Dimes was established by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In 1947, U.S. Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time. Viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York City saw some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress. In 1951, NBC-TV debuted “Dragnet.” In 1953, Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, became the first mother-son combination to serve at the same time in the U.S. Congress. In 1957, the Hamilton Watch Company introduced the first electric watch. In 1959, in the U.S., Alaska became the 49th state. In 1961, the U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. In 1973, the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sold the New York Yankees to a 12-man syndicate headed by George Steinbrenner for $10 million. In 1993, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Moscow. In 2000, Charles M. Schulz’s final original daily comic strip appeared in newspapers. In 2004, NASA’s Spirit rover landed on Mars. The craft was able to send back black and white images three hours after landing.

WEDNESDAY WISDOM: “Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’”—Alfred Lord Tennyson, former Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland