04:25 PM EDT, 08/26/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes ended higher on Tuesday as investors looked past US President Donald Trump's decision to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank's board.

* Donald Trump posted a letter Monday on Truth Social removing Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, citing information from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte and former Attorney General Pam Bondi alleging that Cook may have made false statements on one or more mortgage documents. According to media reports, Cook plans to sue Trump over the dismissal attempt, her attorney said Tuesday.

* US durable goods orders declined 2.8% in July to $302.81 billion, a smaller drop than the 3.8% decline expected, as transportation equipment continued to weigh on activity, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday. This followed a sharper 9.4% decline in June. However, excluding transportation, orders rose by 1.1%, exceeding both the prior month's 0.3% increase and the 0.2% gain projected by analysts.

* October West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell $1.47 to settle at $63.33 per barrel, while October Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $1.50 to $67.30.

* Eli Lilly ( LLY ) shares rose about 5.8% on Tuesday after the company released additional late-stage trial data for its experimental weight loss pill, positioning the drugmaker to pursue global regulatory approval for the oral treatment.

* Spectrum Reach, the advertising division of Charter Communications ( CHTR ) , said late Monday that it has finalized its acquisition of ShowSeeker, a provider of cloud-based order management systems. Shares of Charter fell about 2.5%.