The showdown over the future of the financial industry continued in Washington on Tuesday, as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker continued to push for restrictions on commercial banks engaging in proprietary trading and private investing activity. Earnings reports continued to give domestic equity markets a boost, as did favorable news for the U.S. auto industry out of Detroit: Ford and GM posted sales increases of 25% and 14%, respectively, in January. Toyota results were hammered by the carmaker’s biggest-ever recall.

The ETFdb 60 Index, a benchmark measuring the performance of asset classes available through ETFs, gained 8.25 points, or 0.8%, to close at 1,018.36. The index has already added nearly 2% in February after slipping more than 3% in January.