The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite on Tuesday finished in record territory, notching all-time highs for the first time since fall and late summer, powered by gains in health-care and the consumer-discretionary sectors. The S&P 500 index finished up 0.9%, or 26 points, at 2,934 (on a preliminary basis), above its closing high at 2,930.75 put in on Sept. 20. The health-care sector, as reflected in the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF , rose about 1.6% on Tuesday. Consumer-discretionary shares, as gauged by the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF , climbed 1%. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 1.3% at 8,120, closing above its Aug. 29 all-time closing high at 8,109.69. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a 0.6% gain to end at 26,656, just off its Oct. 3 record at 26,828.39. The three main benchmarks have mounted a steady ascent since putting in their lows on Dec. 24, when equity indexes suffered heavy losses during a bruising fourth-quarter selloff that dragged the Nasdaq into bear-market territory, defined as a decline of at least 20% from a recent peak, and left the S&P 500 on the edge of ending its longest bull run ever. Strong earnings reports have to fuel Tuesday's advance, as shares of social-networking platform Twitter Inc. , and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp. and United Technologies Corp. rallied after quarterly results on the session.