US stocks : Dow up 0.5 pct
Dow Jones industrial average rose 62.51 points, or 0.46 percent, to 13,712.21 at the close. The S&P 500 gained 6.58 points, or 0.44 percent, to 1,492.56. The Nasdaq Composite added 8.47 points or 0.27 percent, to 3,143.18.
Tuesday's session marked the highest closes for both the Dow and the S&P 500 since December 2007.
Technology shares underperformed as concerns about Apple's ability to continue to grow at hyper speed and a weak outlook from Intel Corp diminished optimism about the sector's prospects. The S&P technology index added 0.16 percent for the day. In comparison, the S&P energy sector index, the S&P financials index and the S&P basic materials index each gained 0.9 percent.
But Google shares rose 4.8 percent to above $736 in extended-hours trading after the world's No. 1 search engine reported a jump in fourth-quarter revenue. Shares of IBM added more than 4 percent to trade above $204 after the world's largest technology services company reported earnings and revenue that beat estimates.
"We expected Q4 for many tech vendors would be weak because we were expecting a lot of companies sitting on their wallets until it became clear what was going to become of the fiscal cliff," Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels said about IBM.
"Given the fact it's Q4 and the cloud of fiscal cliff within it, it's a positive indication that especially tech software will be doing better in the next couple of months."
During the regular session, shares of blue chips Travelers, DuPont, and Verizon Communications rose following earnings.
Travelers
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