Wall Street ends higher on back of finance sector

US stock indices closed higher on Tuesday, with finance stocks leading the charge, and S&P 500 hitting fresh record highs, following earlier upbeat data that showed an unexpected rise in the JOLTS job openings survey in July. 

Similarly, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that President Donald Trump's administration seeks to wrap up the tax reform agenda by the end of 2017, adding that he doesn't know whether Trump's goal to cut corporate taxes to 15% is achievable due to budget constraints, but he asserted on the importance of reaching record competitiveness. 

On Thursday, the Senate Financial Committee will hold a session to hear tax reform propositions, after Senator Orrin Hatch said he expects the plan to be shared with other senators, while Trump urged Congress to vote on the reforms as fast as possible without waiting until the end of September. 

Concerns have dissipated overall regarding the North Korea nuclear situation and Hurricane Irma, with the later losing most of its strength already, in turn buoying risk appetite in the markets, but Apple's stock gave up ground however after debuting its new iPhone, capping the market's advance.

Dow Jones rose 0.28%, or 61.49 points to 22,118.86, while Standard and Poor's 500 added 0.34%, or 8.37 points to 2,496.48. NASDAQ Composite advanced 0.34%, or 22.02 points to 6,454.28. 

Gold futures due on December 16 shed 0.02% to $1,335.40 an ounce from the opening of $1,335.70, while the dollar index gained 0.07% to 91.94 from the opening of 91.87. 

Otherwise, US crude futures due on October 15 rose 0.37% to $48.25 a barrel from the opening of $48.07, while Brent crude futures due on November 15 powered up 0.84% to $54.29 a barrel from the opening of $53.84.