Wall St rises as investors bet on 2018 gains

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs on Tuesday in the first session of the new year as investors were optimistic that 2018 will bring more gains for the market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 104.42 points, or 0.42 percent, to 24,823.64, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 22.2 points, or 0.83 percent, to 2,695.81 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 103.51 points, or 1.5 percent, to 7,006.90.

(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Nick Zieminski)