Surprisingly strong earnings from Netflix, UnitedHealth Group and other companies put investors in a buying mood Tuesday, driving U.S. stocks solidly higher.
Energy stocks also rose as the price of crude oil recovered from an earlier slide.
Investors are poring over company earnings reports to gauge the market's prospects for growth in coming months and get a better handle on the state of the economy.
Earnings for the third quarter are projected be down about 1.1 percent overall from a year ago, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Fundamentals drive markets and positive earnings are a necessary precursor for this bull market to continue.
Domino's Pizza jumped 4.9 percent after the company delivered a 25 percent jump in quarterly profit as sales rose.
Del Taco Restaurants climbed 8.8 percent after the restaurant chain served up solid sales in the third quarter.
Some companies reported improved results but missed on their earnings forecasts.
IBM slid 2.6 percent a day after issuing a full-year earnings outlook that fell short of what analysts were expecting.
