Looking at the sector breakdown, all the components showed strong readings except for clothing and apparel, which declined by 2.9% in July after rising 2.7% m-o-m in June.
Giving a big boost to stocks was the release at 10:00 a.m. of the ISM Manufacturing Survey, showing a second straight month of expansion, with index of factory activity rising to 51.7 in October, up from up from 51.5 in September.