U.S. equities overcame early weakness on Tuesday to push the major indices higher for the third session in a row.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5%, the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%, settling near their session highs. The three indices held losses of around 0.7% apiece at the opening bell, but slowly began moving back towards their flat lines, hitting positive territory in the early afternoon.

Nine of eleven S&P 500 sectors settled in positive territory, with financials (+0.5%), consumer discretionary (+0.5%), and real estate (+0.6%) being the top performers. Energy (-0.5%) and materials (-0.3%) were the two declining sectors, and health care (+0.1%) also showed relative weakness.

Within the consumer discretionary space, Under Armour (UAA 16.70, +2.47) rallied 17.4%, hitting its best level since late October, after reporting better-than-expected sales for the fourth quarter. Internet retail giant Amazon (AMZN 1414.51, +28.28) also helped the consumer discretionary sector, climbing 2.0%.

Meanwhile, in the health care space, AmerisourceBergen (ABC 97.77, +8.32) spiked 9.3% following a Wall Street Journal report that Walgreens Boot Alliance (WBA 68.29, -0.17) has reached out to the drug distributor about a potential takeover.

In the bond market, Treasuries finished Tuesday mostly higher, although the 2-yr note declined. The benchmark 10-yr yield slipped three basis points to 2.83% after settling Monday at a four-year high, while the 2-yr yield rose two basis points to 2.09%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Elsewhere, West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 0.2% to $59.19 per barrel, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) declined around one point, or 2.3%, to 25.02, and the U.S. dollar tumbled 0.5% against the euro (1.2357) and 0.8% against the Japanese yen (107.82).

Tuesday's lone economic report--the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for January--rose to 106.9 from 104.9 in December.

On Wednesday, investors will receive the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index at 7:00 AM ET, the Consumer Price Index (Briefing.com consensus +0.4%), the core Consumer Price Index (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%), and Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%) for January at 8:30 AM ET, and Business Inventories for December (Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) at 10:00 AM ET.

Emphasis will be placed on the core Consumer Price Index as a hotter-than-expected reading could prompt inflation/rate hike concerns.

• Nasdaq Composite: +1.6% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.3% YTD
• S&P 500: -0.4% YTD
• Russell 2000: -2.7% YTD

Headlines provided by Briefing.com

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