Indexes hit record highs, helped by tax bill progress

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street surged to record closing highs on Tuesday, led by sharp gains in bank stocks and boosted by progress for a tax cut bill, strong consumer confidence data and encouraging comments from President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve.

Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 255.93 points, or 1.09 percent, to 23,836.71, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 25.65 points, or 0.99 percent, to 2,627.07 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 33.84 points, or 0.49 percent, to 6,912.36.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Nick Zieminski)