12:36 PM EDT, 03/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark stock indexes rose while government bond yields traded mixed after midday Tuesday as durable goods orders grew quicker than forecast while a consumer confidence gauge slipped.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% to 5,230.1, hovering close to its record high. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3% to 16,429.7. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.3% to 39,411.9, setting up for hitting the eye-popping 40,000 mark. March 29 is a public holiday to observe Good Friday.

While communication services and consumer discretionary paced the gainers, utilities were the steepest decliner intraday.

In economic news Monday, the durable goods orders rose 1.4% in February, compared with a revised 6.9% drop in January, beating the consensus for an increase of 1.3%.

The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence slipped to 104.7 in March from 104.8 in February, below the 107 expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

The Case-Shiller National Home Price Index fell 0.1% in January before seasonal adjustment following a 0.4% decrease in December. National home prices jumped 6% from a year ago versus a 5.6% increase in December.

The US Treasury two-year yield marched up 2.3 basis points to 4.61%, while the 10-year yield stood little-changed at 4.25%.

In company news, McCormick's ( MKC ) shares surged nearly 11% intraday, the top performer on the S&P 500, after the company's fiscal Q1 adjusted earnings and net sales beat market expectations.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil edged up 0.1% to $82.02 a barrel.

Gold was fractionally up at $2,198.4 per troy ounce, and silver dropped 1.2% to $24.60.