Midday Update: Dow Driven to New Record On Strong Earnings From Components

Stocks were all higher midday Tuesday. The Dow reached a fresh intraday record while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained.

Author:: Kinsey Grant
Publish date:: Oct 24, 2017 12:01 PM EDT

Stocks were moving confidently higher by midday Tuesday as strong earnings ignited investors and stoked optimism. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a fresh intraday record, gaining as much as 0.7% as some of its components posted earnings beats. The S&P 500 was higher too, gaining about one-tenth of a percent. The Nasdaq dipped slightly at the open before trading well into the green. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 aren't quite at record levels yet. They need a bit more momentum to get there and so far they're not showing the same kind of gains as the Dow.

Dow component Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) - Get Report surged as much as 5.8% Tuesday after posting a surprise earnings beat. Adjusted profit of $1.95 per share topped analyst expectations by an impressive 68 cents. The heavy machinery company reported revenue of $11.4 billion for the third quarter, which easily bested analysts' forecast of just $10.7 billion.

It was a similar story for McDonald's Corp. (MCD) - Get Report . The fast food legend - and fellow Dow component - served up seriously good comp store sales for the third quarter. Global comp sales surged 6%, which was far better than analysts expected. In the U.S. alone, comp sales were up 4.5%. Earnings of $1.76 per share were in line with analyst expectations. McDonald's stock gained a little over 1% on the good news.

With about a third of October come and gone, roughly 20% of S&P 500 companies have reported their third quarter earnings. Most of them have posted strong results that have bested profits and sales estimates. Thomson Reuters analysts forecast blended earnings growth of 3.8% for the third quarter. Revenue is anticipated to climb by 4.4% overall.

Watch More with TheStreet: