The S&P 500 on Tuesday barely missed finishing in record territory for the 66th time thus far this year, as stocks in consumer discretionary and information technology supported a broad-market advance. The climb for the session came as retail sales jumped 1.7% in October, the government said, surpassing forecasts for a 1.5% rise and logging the biggest gain since March when households received billions in federal stimulus money. Excluding autos, sales rose 1.4%. There were some questions about the impact of inflation on the data because the report does not account for inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% at 36,142, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.4% to around 4,700 and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed 0.8% at 15,974, on the back of gains of semiconductor manufacturers Qualcomm Inc. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. . Meanwhile, Home Depot Inc rose 5.8% after the home-improvement retailer reported fiscal third-quarter profit, net sales and same-store sales that beat expectations.
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