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Stocks rose on Wednesday as investors cheered strong quarterly earnings from major banks like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 141.57 points to 24,207.16, as Goldman Sachs outperformed.
The S&P 500 gained 5.8 points to 2,616.10, led by a 2.2% gain in financials.
The NASDAQ Composite advanced 10.86 points to end Wednesday at 7,034.69
Goldman Sachs posted blowout quarterly earnings, sending the stock up 9.5% its biggest one-day gain since 2009. Bank of America also rose 7.2% after reporting a record quarterly profit. The reports follow the releases of fourth-quarter results from Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo earlier this week. Morgan Stanley, another major bank, is scheduled to report on Thursday.
Separately, United Continental surged more than 6% after the company posted better-than expected earnings on Tuesday.
More than 6% of S&P 500 companies have reported calendar fourth-quarter earnings. Of those companies, 85.3% have reported better-than-expected earnings.
Equities have bounced back sharply this year after suffering massive losses to near the end of 2018. The major indexes were up at least 3.2% year to date. Since Christmas Eve, they have all gained at least 8.8%. Stocks sold off towards the end of last year in part because of fear that the global economy was slowing down.
Nordstrom shares fell more than 4.5% after the company said sales at some stores were "below expectations" during the holiday season. Meanwhile, Snap dropped more than 13% on news the company’s CFO was resigning.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell back, raising yields to 2.73% from Tuesday’s 2.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 27 cents to $52.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices strengthened five dollars to $1,293.40 U.S. an ounce.
