Dow Ends Day Up 118

Strong earnings from big US companies helped drive stock indexes further into record territory, the AP reports. Financial stocks rose more than the rest of the market Thursday. Regions Financial rose 3.5%. Energy stocks also climbed as the price of crude oil headed higher. Several companies rose after reporting better results than analysts were expecting. Kellogg and Viacom rose 4%. Twitter plunged 12% after delivering a weak forecast and revenue that fell well short of estimates. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 13 points, or 0.6%, to 2,307. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 118 points, or 0.6%, to 20,172. The Nasdaq composite rose 32 points, or 0.6%, to 5,715. Small-company stocks outpaced the market. The Russell 2000 jumped 19 points, or 1.5%, to 1,378. (More Dow Jones stories.)