Dow rises 216 points, records best quarterly gain since 1987

June 30 (UPI) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 216 points on Tuesday, recording its best single-quarter gain in decades.

The Dow rose 0.85 percent to close the second quarter, while the S&P 500 gained 1.53 percent and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.87 percent.

All three major indexes posted their third consecutive monthly gains with the Dow rising 1.7 percent in June, while the S&P increased 1.8 percent and the Nasdaq Composite grew 6 percent.

For the quarter, the Dow gained 17.8 percent -- its largest quarterly rally since 1987 when it rose 21.6 percent -- the S&P 500 had its greatest quarterly gain since 1998, rising nearly 20 percent and the Nasdaq gained 30.6 percent for the quarter, its best since 1999.

Tech stocks and shares of aerospace giant Boeing boosted U.S. stocks on Monday, when the Dow closed by 580 points.

On Tuesday, tech stocks continued to rise as Amazon stock increased 2.93 percent, Facebook grew 2.91 percent and Netflix gained 1.74 percent.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell also delivered mixed testimony on Tuesday with Mnuchin saying the economy is in a position to make a strong recovery from the pandemic while Powell expressed more uncertainty.

"Output and unemployment remain far below their pre-pandemic levels. The path forward for the economy is extraordinarily uncertain and will depend in large part on our success in containing the virus," said Powell. "A full recovery is unlikely until people are confident that it is safe to re-engage in a broad range of activities."