NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed Tuesday morning, pushing back toward record territory even as oil prices surged sharply on fading hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping corridor.

The blue-chip index stood at 54,155.73 as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern time, up 179.75 points, or 0.33%, recovering ground after a modest pullback in Monday's session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also traded higher in early Tuesday activity, with both indexes hovering near the record levels reached earlier this month.

Tuesday's advance followed a slightly negative session Monday, when the Dow slipped 60.95 points, or 0.11%, to close at 53,975.98, while the S&P 500 eased 0.06% to 7,753.11 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.32% to 26,605.36. Monday's session was weighed down in part by a sharp decline in Intel shares, which fell roughly 4% after the chipmaker announced plans to raise $15 billion through a new stock offering, a figure that later reporting indicated could grow to as much as $20 billion. Other technology names also weighed on the market Monday, with Nvidia falling 2.9% and Apple dropping 1.5%.

Oil prices moved sharply higher heading into Tuesday's session as optimism around a resolution to tensions in the Strait of Hormuz continued to erode. Brent crude climbed to $92.54 per barrel, a gain of........

© International Business Times