Dow above 17,000 on earnings strength

NEW YORK - Strong corporate earnings pushed up stocks across industries Tuesday, with the energy sector and small companies leading the gains.

Whirlpool, AutoNation, and engine-maker Cummins all rose 7 percent after reporting their results.

The surge in stocks in recent days is a turnaround from Oct. 15, when the Standard and Poor's 500 closed just short of a "correction," defined as a drop of 10 percent or more from a recent high. With Tuesday's gains, the index has nearly erased those losses.

The S&P 500 rose 23.42 points, or 1.19 percent, to 1,985.05. That puts it another strong day from a record high. It is just 26.31 points short of its Sept. 18 record close of 2,011.36.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 187.81 points, or 1.12 percent, to 17,005.75. The Nasdaq composite climbed 78.36 points, or 1.75 percent, to 4,564.29.

Among big moves, Amgen rose 6 percent, to $157.19, after it announced plans to cut more jobs, buy back $2 billion worth of stock, and raise its dividend by 30 percent. Madison Square Garden Co. surged 11 percent after the company said it was considering a plan to split off its entertainment businesses from its media and sports divisions. The stock rose $7.21 to $72.99.

Twitter reported third-quarter revenue late Monday that outpaced expectations, but investors are worried about revenue for the last three months of the year and growth in the number of users. The stock plummeted $4.78 to $43.78, a loss of 10 percent.

U.S. crude oil rose 42 cents to $81.42 a barrel in New York. That helped push up energy stocks 2.3 percent, the biggest gain among the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500. Crude has dropped sharply since June, when it went as high as $107 a barrel.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 20 cents to close at $86.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the NYMEX, wholesale gasoline rose 2.6 cents to close at $2.196 a gallon, heating oil rose 1.8 cents to close at $2.493 a gallon, and natural gas rose 8.8 cents to close at $3.649 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In bond trading, the price of the 10-year Treasury note fell slightly. The yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 2.29 percent from 2.26 percent late Monday.

In metals trading, gold edged up 10 cents to $1,229.40 an ounce, silver rose six cents to $17.23 an ounce and copper rose three cents to $3.09 a pound.