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New York - US stocks bolted higher Thursday following a series of mostly strong earnings reports from Dow members Caterpillar, 3M and others.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 216.58 points (1.32%) to 16 677.90.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 23.71 (1.23%) at 1 950.82, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index soared 69.95 (1.60%) to 4 452.79.
"The industrials are leading the market much higher," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.
"The economic news was somewhat mixed. But we did have very good earnings."
Industrial heavyweight Caterpillar jumped 5.0% after third-quarter net income rose 8% to $1.02bn as company cost-cutting measures and restructuring offset sluggish economic conditions. Earnings of $1.63 per share blew by the consensus estimate of $1.36.
3M's profits gained 6% to $1.3bn as the industrial and consumer materials company notched earnings per share of $1.98, 2c above analyst estimates. Shares soared 4.4%.
General Motors dipped 1.2% as third-quarter net income fell 14.3 % to $1.47bn on weak performance in Europe and South America. The results translated into per share earnings of 97c, 2c above analyst forecasts.
Dow member AT&T fell 2.4% after reporting a 21% drop in third-quarter earnings to $3bn in results that fell short of analyst expectations.
American Airlines gained 3.9% on third-quarter earnings of $1.66 per share, 3c above estimates. United Continental rose 0.7% after besting expectations by 7c at $2.75 per share.
Banana giant Chiquita Brands International soared 8.0% after Brazilian firms Cutrale Group, a juice exporter, and Safra Group, an investment bank, raised their previous cash offer for Chiquita by 50c to $14.50 a share, valuing the company at $682m.
The bid came ahead of Friday's Chiquita shareholder vote on a merger with Irish company Fyffes.
Online review and listing site Yelp sank 18.6% after it projected fourth-quarter sales of $107-108m, below the $111m analyst estimate.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.28% from 2.23% on Wednesday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.05% from 3.00%.
