Stocks jumped higher Tuesday thanks to promising numbers from U.S. manufacturers and better-than-expected sales by U.S. automakers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average came within two points of 17,000 Tuesday, hitting 16,998. In late day trading, the Dow is at 16,980.

Manufacturing numbers remained almost unchanged from May. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index came in at 55.3 in June. In May, it was at 55.4.

A separate manufacturing report from financial-data firm Markit had the manufacturing sector expanding in June. The Purchasing Managers Index from the firm rose to 57.3, the highest since May 2010.

Car sales by U.S. automakers also were reassuring to investors. Chrysler's sales in the U.S. rose by 9 percent, beating expectations, and General Motors, despite negative publicity, also beat sales expectations.

Investor uncertainty continued to fall as well. The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, fell another 2.8 percent to 11.25, suggesting investor trust in the markets.

July has been historically a good month for stocks.

"Seasonality is in our favor too, oddly enough, July is a good month for us," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities said.

The S&P 500 posted its sixth consecutive quarter of gains after Monday's close. This is the longest streak for the S&P 500 since 1998. It closed at a record high of 1,973.30.

Company News and Updates

Hillshire Foods (HSH) touched its 52-week high Tuesday and was very active. Over 14 million shares were exchanged Tuesday. Recently acquired by Tyson Foods, Hillshire, was let out of its agreement to purchase Pinnacle Foods, allowing Tyson to move forward.

Twitter (TWTR) was up about 3 percent on news that the social media site will acquire TapCommerce. This acquisition will help Twitter's ad strategy.

GoPro (GPRO) just went public last week for $24 a share. Just four trading days later, the stock touched $50 a share, over a 100 percent increase. The stock closed Tuesday at $48.90, up over 20 percent for the day.