After a slow open on Tuesday, the market pushed higher on news that consumer confidence is on the rise again. Home Depot was leading the way in the morning up 2.7 percent by midday. All three major indexes rose today with the Dow up 81 points or 0.7 percent to 12279.67. The Nasdaq was up 24.73 points or 0.90 percent. The S&P 500 added 9 points or 0.7 percent to 1319.

Home Depot continued to gain in the afternoon up a total of 2.9 percent for the day after it announced it would buy $1 billion of its own stock with the cash from bond sales. The 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average all rose at least 0.3 percent.

Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume for the day totalled 3.6 billion shares.