NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were back in rally mode early Thursday, boosted by generally strong corporate earnings and a weaker US dollar.
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added to the prior session's record, rising 0.4 percent to 26,359.50.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to 2,843.89, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3 percent to 7,440.38.
The trove of earnings reports ahead of the open included industrial giants, utilities and biotech companies, most of which beat expectations.
Analysts now project companies in the S&P 500 will report an 11 percent jump in fourth-quarter profits per share, an improvement on the 10.6 percent previously forecast, CFRA Research said.
Market insiders also were eyeing the sliding US dollar as giving another boost to US equities because it should result in stronger international sales from US multinationals.
Dow member 3M rose 0.8 percent after reporting earnings of $2.10 per share, seven cents above analyst expectations.
Other equities that rose after earnings included Whirlpool, up 3.6 percent and Northrop Grumman, up 1.8 percent.
But Ford slumped 2.7 percent after forecasting 2018 profits of between $1.45 and $1.70 per share, a low range compared with analyst expectations for $1.62 per share. Analysts pressed executives for details to boost profitability.
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