New York - Wall Street stocks rose again on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq climbing above 6 000 for the first time and the Dow surging following a series of mostly strong earnings from blue-chip companies.
About 10 minutes into trading, the Nasdaq Composite Index was at 6 008.62 points, up 0.4% over Monday's record close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.9% to 20 955.15, while broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.4% to 2 384.61.
Earnings standouts included Caterpillar, which jumped 6.9%, after scoring its first increase in quarterly sales in two-and-a-half years, and McDonald's, which rose 3.1% after reporting that global comparable sales rose 4.0% as earnings bested analyst expectations.
The gains came on the heels of a strong session in global equity markets on Monday, when the Nasdaq finished at an all-time high and markets in Europe won large gains after centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron turned in a strong performance in the first round of the French presidential election, and appears favoured to win the May 7 runoff.
Among other Dow companies reporting earnings, Coca-Cola dipped 0.1%, 3M shed 0.6% and DuPont won 2.7%.
Lockheed Martin lost 2.6% after reporting that first-quarter profit fell 15% to $763 in results that lagged analyst expectations.
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