By the Associated Press
Investors cheered strong quarterly earnings from Wal-Mart Stores, Cisco Systems and other companies. Technology stocks accounted for much of the market’s gains, which helped lift the Nasdaq composite to its first record high in just more than a week.
Health care companies and consumer product makers also posted solid gains. Energy and utilities stocks lagged. Oil prices declined.
The rally knocked the major stock indexes into positive territory for the month, as investors seized on the encouraging company earnings news to buy shares a day after the market suffered its worst decline in two months.
“Investors have been looking to buy on weakness and they got a little bit of it,” said Erik Davidson, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank. “The desire to buy in dips has been very, very strong and we’ve seen a little bit of a dip.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 21.02 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,585.64. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 187.08 points, or 0.8 percent, to 23,458.36. The Nasdaq added 87.08 points, or 1.3 percent, to 6,793.29. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 22.79 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,486.88.
The major stock indexes were poised to rebound from the start of trading Thursday following solid gains in markets in Europe and Asia. Investors shrugged off the prior day’s doldrums and welcomed latest batch of strong corporate earnings or outlooks.