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Stock Market Hits New High As Yellen Lifts Banks; What's Next For Apple?

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Stocks reversed off early losses to lift the major market indexes to new highs for a fourth straight session with JPMorgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Apple (AAPL) boosting the Dow Jones industrial average.

The Dow and S&P 500 rose 0.5% and 0.4% respectively, while the Nasdaq added 0.3%. The small cap Russell 2000 added 0.3%. Volume was higher on both the NYSE and Nasdaq vs. Monday, according to preliminary figures.

Fiber optics, oil and banks led the upside in the stock market today, while networking, steel and other building-related issues lagged.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee the Fed expects to hike interest rates at a gradual pace but warned that "waiting too long to remove accommodation would be unwise." Bank stocks, which typically benefit from higher rates, rallied on her hawkish remarks. Bond yields also rose.

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs rose 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively, on the Dow. JPMorgan marked a record best, while Goldman cleared a 245.67 buy point of a flat base.

Apple also gave the blue chip index an assist, taking out its April 2015 high with a 1% gain as it gets further extended past a 118.12 cup-with-handle buy point cleared in early January. The iPhone maker has placed a display panel order worth $4.3 billion with Samsung for organic light-emitting diode smartphone screens, according to the Korea Herald.

Apple also introduced two new shows, a spinoff of "Carpool Karaoke" and "Planet of the Apps," at an event Monday night. The shows will be available to Apple Music subscribers this spring.

On the IBD 50, Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL), Comerica (CMA) and Citizens Financial Group (CFG) scored the biggest gains, up about 3% each.

But networking software maker LogMeIn (LOGM) slumped 9%, breaching its 50-day line in heavy volume. Amazon (AMZN) announced Amazon Chime, which could pose a threat to LogMeIn's Join.me videoconferencing service.

U.S. wholesale prices rose 0.6% in January, above economist forecasts for a 0.3% increase and December's 0.2% advance. That marked the biggest gain in the producer price index since September 2012.

A busy economic data slate Wednesday includes the consumer price index, industrial production and retail sales for January, the weekly MBA mortgage applications and EIA petroleum status report, and February housing market index.

Earnings reports are due Wednesday from Applied Materials (AMAT), Cisco Systems (CSCO), NetEase (NTES), PepsiCo (PEP), TripAdvisor (TRIP) and many others.

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