Tuesday Closing Bell: Markets Run with the Bulls

November 26, 2013: U.S. equity markets opened higher again Tuesday morning following a rise in the Case-Shiller house price index and a larger than expected rise in the number of new building permits issued. Bullish sentiment continues to stoke investors, and both the DJIA and S&P 500 slipped right before markets closed, but the NASDAQ Composite closed about 4,000 for the first time since the dot.com bubble year of 2000.

European, Asian, and Latin American markets closed lower today, with the single major exception being Spain's IBEX.

Wednesday's calendar includes the following scheduled data releases and events (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications 8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits 8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index 9:45 a.m. – Chicago PMI 9:55 a.m. – Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index 10:00 a.m. – Leading indicators 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report 12:00 p.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report 1:00 p.m. – 7-year note auction 3:00 p.m. – Farm prices

Here are the closing bell levels for Tuesday:

S&P500 1802.79 (+0.31; +0.02%) DJIA 16072.86 (+0.26; flat) NASDAQ 4017.75 (+23.18; +0.58%) 10YR TNOTE 2.713% (+0.15625) Gold $1,241.40 (+0.20; flat) WTI Crude oil $93.68 (-0.41; -0.4%) Euro/Dollar: 1.3520 (+0.0055; +0.41%)

Big Earnings Movers: Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is up 8.7% at $88.05 following positive results and a raised outlook. Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is down 6% at $15.45 as the bookseller watches its revenue slide. JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down 10.3% at $XX on a mixed earnings report and LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) is flat at $1.60.

Stocks on the Move: Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is down 18.1% at $13.10 and Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) is down 9% at $4.67 on huge volume today. Mediabistro Inc. (NASDAQ: MBIS) is up 87.2% at $4.10 after investing in a media and events firm that covers the 3D printing market.

In all, 174 NYSE stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while 59 stocks posted new lows.