Wall Street's major indices pushed higher on Tuesday on interest rate-cut hopes, a day after striking record highs on optimism over a reduction in US-China trade tensions.

"Record highs yesterday for the major indices weren't enough," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"The market is coming back for more this morning, heartened by recent earnings reports, visions of a rate cut dancing in its head, merger and acquisition activity, positive sentiment surrounding President Trump's trip to Asia, and plain old momentum," he added.

The Dow and the Nasdaq Composite both rose around 0.5 percent in early afternoon trading, while the S&P 500 added 0.1 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 index also set a fresh record high, while Frankfurt and Paris stocks retreated. Asian stock markets

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