Stocks Tick Up to Higher Close

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks closed higher Tuesday, again touching year highs, after hanging near the flat line most of the day. The market digested a mix of builder confidence figures, wholesale price data, factory numbers and retail earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30 points, or 0.3%, to 10,437. The S&P 500 advanced 1 point, or 0.1%, to 1110, as the Nasdaq added 6 points to 2204.

The market drifted on Tuesday after the major indices surged the day before. Dollar weakness on Monday helped buoy gains in commodities and related stocks, basic materials and large cap multinationals. But one analyst found an up note with the Dollar Index strengthening on Tuesday and equities and commodities holding steady.

"A day like today is extremely positive following a surge like we had on Monday that was so specifically related to the decline in the dollar," says Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. "You come in to today, and the dollar gains back all that it lost plus a little more and the market doesn't give it back. That, I think is very telling. You can reverse the dollar side of the trade but you don't get the downside. We're not seeing the gains taken away when the catalysts for the gain are taken away."

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Crude oil settled at $79.14 after gaining 24 cents. Gold settled at $1,139.40 an ounce after adding 20 cents.

Microsoft(MSFT Quote) and Merck(MRK Quote) were the leading percentage gainers on the Dow, adding 1.9% and 1.4% each.