New High for Dow Industrials

Wells Fargo (WFC Quote) reported fourth-quarter earnings of $2.18 billion, or 64 cents a share, up 13% from the year-ago quarter. Revenue jumped 11% to $9.4 billion. The Thomson First Call average estimate was for earnings of 64 cents a share on revenue of $8.96 billion. Wells Fargo added 72 cents, or 2%, to $36.23.

Elsewhere, TD Ameritrade (AMTD Quote) posted fiscal first-quarter earnings of $145.6 million, or 24 cents a share, surging 69% from last year. Revenue rose to $535.2 million from $277.3 million last year. Analysts were calling for earnings of 22 cents a share on revenue of $517 million. Shares were higher by 65 cents, or 3.8%, to finish at $18.

Away from equities, the New York Federal Reserve said its Empire State Index unexpectedly fell to a reading of 9.13 in January from a revised 22.2 in December. The index now sits at its lowest level since May 2005. Economists had expected the January reading to slip to 20.0.

"In short, a clear weakening, but it's far from clear that there is any predictive power here," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist with High Frequency Economics. "The Empire State survey has been persistently stronger than most other regional surveys and the national ISM manufacturing index over the past year or so, but this report goes some way towards closing the gap."