Stocks rose for a seventh consecutive session on Wall Street, with the blue-chip sector overcoming weak profit reports from 3M and Chevron. The Dow Jones industrial average bounced back from a loss of 97 points and rose 13.91 points to 8,533.14, extending an increasingly anaemic winning streak to seven sessions.
Broader stock indicators posted more sizeable gains than the Dow thanks to another strong showing by smaller company shares. Among the Dow's 30 components, 3M fell sharply after failing to meet analyst forecasts for the third quarter. Chevron also came up short and warned that low oil prices continued to hurt profits. But Procter and Gamble and Boeing surpassed expectations to help cushion the Dow.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.56 to 1,078.48, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 27.88 to 1,702.63. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a three-to-two margin on the New York stock exchange, with 1,852 up, 1,230 down and 458 unchanged.