U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, as the S&P 500 index moved closer to a new all-time high. In U.S. economic news, the Census Bureau reported that durable goods orders rose 5.7 percent in February. According to the S&P Case-Shiller index, home prices rose 8.1 percent in January from a year ago, marking the biggest year-over-year gain since June 2006. The dollar declined against the euro, but rose versus the pound and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for May delivery climbed $1.53 to $96.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures dropped $8.80 to $1,595.70 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 111.9, or 0.77 percent, to 14,559.65. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 12.08, or 0.78 percent, to 1,563.77. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index moved up 17.18, or 0.53 percent, to 3,252.48.