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NEW YORK, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks posted sizable gains Tuesday following the first presidential debate between U.S. Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican counterpart Donald Trump.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 133.47 points, or 0.74 percent, to 18,228.30. The S&P 500 increased 13.83 points, or 0.64 percent, to 2,159.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 48.22 points, or 0.92 percent, to 5,305.71.
Clinton and Trump faced off for the first time in the chaotic 2016 election cycle Monday evening, with Clinton calling out Trump for not releasing tax returns and telling lies, while Trump labeled Clinton a traditional politician.
"The first 2016 Presidential debate is over and Bloomberg News claims the markets judge Clinton the winner, pointing to a post-debate rally in the peso. Substantive polls will take a few days," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.
The debate marked the first of three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate that will take place before the Nov. 8 election day.
The performance of each candidate at the debates could be crucial to clinching the presidency, as various polls have showed a tightened race in many of the swing states in recent weeks.
On the economic front, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-City Composite index rose 5.0 percent year over year, slightly below market consensus of 5.1 percent.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 104.1 in September, up from 101.8 in August and beating market estimates of 98.8.
Oil prices were also in focus, which suffered big losses Tuesday as Iran said it is not willing to freeze its oil output at current levels, denting market expectation for an output-freeze deal among OPEC members.
