Dow closes above 13,000

US stocks rose again on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 23.61 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,005.12. It was its first close above 13,000 since 2008. The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent to 1,372.18.

The positive performance of US stocks came despite mixed economic reports on Tuesday. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 70.8 in February, a one-year high. However, new orders for durable goods fell 4.0 percent in January, the biggest decline since January 2009, and the S&P/Case Shiller index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas fell 0.5 percent in December.

European stocks also rose on Tuesday, with the STOXX Europe 600 rising 0.2 percent to 264.33. This was despite the ECB suspending the eligibility of Greek debt as collateral on Tuesday following Standard & Poor's downgrade of Greece to "selective default" on Monday.

There was positive economic data for the euro area on Tuesday though. The European Commission's index of executive and consumer sentiment in the euro area rose for a second month in February, increasing to 94.4 from 93.4 in January.