NEW YORK, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks finished higher Tuesday for a third consecutive trading day, as traders weighed expectations for a potential Federal Reserve interest rate cut.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 664.18 points, or 1.43 percent, to 47,112.45. The S&P 500 rose 60.76 points, or 0.91 percent, to 6,765.88. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 153.59 points, or 0.67 percent, to 23,025.59. All three major indexes notched their third straight day of gains.

Eight of the S&P 500's 11 sectors ended higher, led by health care and consumer discretionary, which rose 2.16 percent and 1.92 percent, respectively. Energy and utilities were the biggest laggards, falling 0.68 percent and 0.35 percent, respectively.

Rate-cut expectations received a boost after Bloomberg reported that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is being considered the frontrunner to become the next Fed chair. Markets are now pricing in nearly an 83 percent chance of a quarter-percentage-point rate cut in December, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Alphabet rose to a fresh record high after The Information reported that Meta Platforms is considering spending billions of dollars on the Google parent's AI chips.

The Consumer Confidence Index dropped 6.8 points to 88.7 in November from 95.5 in October, as U.S. consumers grew more pessimistic about both current economic conditions and their future outlook, with concerns rising about job availability, according to new data from The Conference Board released Tuesday.

"Consumers were notably more pessimistic about business conditions six months from now," said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board. "Mid-2026 expectations for labor market conditions remained decidedly negative, and expectations for increased household incomes shrank dramatically, after six months of strongly positive readings."