US stocks gained on Tuesday after the world's largest computer company, International Business Machines Corp, and the largest US brokerage, Merrill Lynch & Co Inc, reported better-than-expected earnings.
Shares of IBM, a Dow component, rose 3.2 percent to $84.40 on the New York Stock Exchange, giving a boost to the blue chip index.
Merrill Lynch also topped Wall Street's earnings expectations. Its shares rose 2.5 percent to $58.10 on the NYSE.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 58.44 points, or 0.55 percent, at 10,633.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 5.71 points, or 0.47 percent, at 1,226.84. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 22.74 points, or 1.06 percent, at 2,167.61.