Investing.com – Wall Street opened higher on Tuesday morning as third quarter financial results for construction firm Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) came in higher than expected.
The S&P 500 rose four points or 0.15% as of 9:39 AM ET (2:39 PM GMT) while the Dow composite skyrocketed 175 points or 0.75% . Tech heavy NASDAQ Composite increased five points or 0.08%.
Shares in Caterpillar jumped 4.83% after it reported higher than expected third quarter earnings, while General Motors (NYSE:GM) rose 2.75%. The car making giant’s earnings were down in the last quarter but came in better than forecast.
Fast food chain McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 1.00% after its earnings came in as expected. Furniture manufacturer Knoll Inc (NYSE:KNL) increased 13.00% after it beat its third quarter earnings expectations.
Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) dropped 10.07% after Sears announced it would stop selling the home appliance maker’s goods. Elsewhere Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) fell 1.67% after its earnings results came in lower than expected.
In other news, Republican lawmakers are responding to United States President Donald Trump’s tax cut plans and have ambitious plans to release a bill by November 3. Trump is also expected to announce his choice of the next Federal Reserve Chair very soon. Meanwhile, the U.S. Markit Composite PMI rose to its highest level since January, as the economy continues to show signs of strength.
In Europe, stocks edged forward as investors wait for a policy decision from the European Central Bank on Thursday. In Germany the DAX rose seven points or 0.06% while France’s CAC 40 increased three points or 0.07% and in London the FTSE 100 fell nine points or 0.13% while the pan-European Euro Stoxx decreased half a point or 0.02%. Spain’s IBEX 35 rallied 22 points or 0.24%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.22% to $1,278.04 a troy ounce while crude oil futures rose 0.58% to $52.20 a barrel. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, increased 0.06% to 93.78.