The S&P 500 and the Dow rose on Tuesday, with the benchmark S&P 500 within 0.5% of its record high as investors cheered signs of an improving economy ahead of a week packed with major data that is expected to shed more light on the path of inflation.

The two indexes are rising for the fourth straight session as investors bet on economically sensitive stocks benefiting the most from a post-COVID-19 recovery. The S&P 1500 airlines index <.SPCOMAIR> added 0.8%.

The S&P energy index jumped 3.2% on a promising outlook for fuel demand, while financials hit a record high and materials firmed about 1%.

Recent data have shown that the production activities of the United States in May rose as higher demand in the midst of reopening the economy boosted orders.

Neel Kashkari, President of Federal Bank of Minneapolis, and Randal Quarles, Vice President of Fed Supervision, re-iterated the belief in transient higher prices.

Stock markets remained untouched on Friday, following the Federal Reserve officials’ assurances that the ultra loose monetary policy would be maintained, by an increase in the key inflation readings in April.

Focus will be on key manufacturing and services sector Purchasing Managers’ Indexes (PMIs) later in the week to judge the pace of an economic reopening, with the main event of U.S. payrolls due on Friday.

“For now, (investors) are embracing the economic data that shows improvements in the economy and are ignoring data that suggests that it’s going to lead to much higher prices and shortages that affect specific companies,” said Rick Meckler, partner, Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.

“The main driver behind the stock market is the reopening of the country … that’s motivating investors to feel a sense of optimism about markets and cause them to come back in and buy stocks with the idea that things will be better by the fall and earnings will improve.”

At 11:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 135.83 points, or 0.39%, at 34,665.28 and the S&P 500 was up 5.66 points, or 0.13%, at 4,209.77. The Nasdaq Composite was down 15.64 points, or 0.11%, at 13,733.10.

After cutting its full-year profit projection in 2021 due to the projected fall in diagnostic Testing Demand COVID-19, Abbott Laboratories has decreased by 7.8 per cent, weighing mostly the S&P 500.

In the $5,3 billion agreement for the data analytics firm, Cloudera Inc (CLDR.N) jumped 24% after the KKR & Co (KKR.N) and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC private equity companies agreed to take over.

A group of meme holdings has extended gains from the last week by announcing a $230 million raise in capital from AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC.N), to 15.8 percent.

The problems that advanced were outnumbered by a ratio of 2.35 to 1. on the NYSE and a ratio of 1.39 to 1. on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 61 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 131 new highs and 17 new lows.