S&P 500 rises slightly, tries to recover from back-to-back losses: Live updates

U.S. stocks rose slightly Tuesday as investors tried to resume the rally that took equities to record highs after a decline in the previous session.

The S&P 500 gained 0.2%, as did the Nasdaq Composite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 84 points, or 0.2%.

Tuesday's moves higher were led by shares of McCormick, up nearly 11% following a fiscal first-quarter beat. Shares of Seagate Technology rose 10% after an upgrade to overweight at Morgan Stanley, while Krispy Kreme rallied 28% after the donut retailer announced it would expand its partnership with McDonald's. Tesla stock was up 5% in an amazing turnaround for the electric vehicle manufacturer that has so far floundered this year.

Economic data released Tuesday showed orders for long-lasting goods in the U.S. rose 1.4% in February, exceeding the 0.8% StreetAccount consensus.

This backdrop of strong positive growth data, combined with higher-than-expected inflation, is not necessarily a "terribly bad environment" for stocks, according to Tom Hainlin, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Asset Management. In fact, it could be an impetus for the market rally to widen out into the more lagging areas.

"The market's broadening out, it's bringing in more of those cyclical sectors and that's underpinned by the data that's coming in that suggests the economy is still in good shape but that inflation is still positive and still above target," he told CNBC.

On the other hand, March's consumer confidence index came in lower than what economists had expected, indicating waning optimism in the U.S. economy.

The three major averages ended Monday lower. The 30-stock Dow dipped 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell about 0.3% each. It was the second-straight loss for