U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday for a second day, driven higher by strong earnings reports, while the U.S. dollar reversed Tuesday's rally to weaken further on renewed talk of a Chinese currency revaluation.
Oil prices tumbled nearly 2 percent on increased U.S. supplies, but were still close to $50 a barrel, while short-term U.S. Treasury debt prices turned lower.
It was only the second time this year that the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq scored two straight days of gains -- after getting off to a poor start in 2005. On Monday, all three indexes closed at their lowest levels since November.
The stock market opened higher, a day after Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) reported better-than-expected earnings after Tuesday's closing bell, and the drop in crude oil prices helped stock indexes extend their gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 37.03 points, or 0.35 percent, at 10,498.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 5.66 points, or 0.48 percent, at 1,174.07. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 26.14 points, or 1.29 percent, at 2,046.09 -- its biggest gain so far this year.
Shares of Texas Instruments climbed 7.3 percent to $22.66.
Among Wednesday's blizzard of earnings news, other stocks that rose on improved results -- or at least the absence of any more bad news -- included drug maker Eli Lilly and Co., up 1.2 percent at $55.50. Lilly reported that earnings excluding special items beat analysts' expectations.
Health-care company Johnson & Johnson, up 1.5 percent at $64.65, helped drive the Dow higher for the second straight day. On Tuesday, J&J reported a profit that beat Wall Street's expectations.
"Good earnings reports are being reacted to positively," said Sam Rahman, a portfolio manager at Baring Asset Management. "I think when we come out of this earnings period and look at the aggregate numbers, we'll still see more companies generating strong earnings growth versus companies that didn't."