US stocks rose on Wednesday as investors’ expectations for higher earnings lifted stocks across sectors.
The S&P 500 has rallied strongly in the new year, gaining 4.8 per cent so far and posting only two sessions of losses.
The Dow, after briefly hitting the 26,000 milestone on Tuesday, its fastest 1000-point rise, is on track to close above that mark for the first time, reports Reuters.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 270.7 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 26,063.56, the S&P 500 gained 25.71 points, or 0.93 per cent, to 2,802.13.
The Nasdaq Composite added 69.75 points, or 0.97 per cent, to 7,293.43.
Boeing jumped 3.5 per cent after the company announced a joint venture with car seating leader Adient to make aircraft seats.
IBM rose 3.0 per cent after Barclays analysts double upgraded the stock to “overweight” and hiked its price target by $59 to $192.
Goldman Sachs was down 2.2 per cent after posting its first quarterly loss in six years on tax-related charges and a sharp drop in trading revenue.
Ford slipped 7.3 per cent after the automaker reported full-year profit below estimates and provided a downbeat forecast.
General Electric slipped 4.5 per cent, extending losses from Tuesday, when it announced more than $11 billion in charges.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.99-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.81-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 67 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 78 new highs and 30 new lows.