S&P 500 hits 15-month high

Tuesday marked a new 15-month high for the S&P 500 and a 16-month high for the Nasdaq, according to Reuters, due mainly to reports of high factory orders in November.

"There is nothing in here to suggest that investors are backing away at all from the sentiment expressed yesterday, which is one of increased optimism about the global recovery," Craig Peckham, equity trading strategist at Jefferies & Company in New York, told the wire service.

Peckham pointed to what he termed a "slow and measured march higher" in expectations for a better reading in Friday's non-farm payrolls report.