How major US stock indexes fared on Thursday

U.S. stocks closed solidly higher Thursday, driven by solid earnings from Wal-Mart Stores, Cisco Systems and other companies. The gains broke a two-day losing streak for the market and pushed the Nasdaq composite to a record high.

Technology companies, health care stocks and consumer product makers accounted for some of the biggest gains. Energy and utilities stocks declined.

On Thursday:

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 21.02 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 2,585.64.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 187.08 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 23,458.36.

The Nasdaq added 87.08 points, or 1.3 per cent, to 6,793.29.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 22.79 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 1,486.88.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is up 3.34 points, or 0.1 per cent.

The Dow is up 36.15 points, or 0.2 per cent.

The Nasdaq is up 42.35 points, or 0.6 per cent.

The Russell 2000 is up 11.61 points, or 0.8 per cent.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 346.81 points, or 15.5 per cent.

The Dow is up 3,695.76 points, or 18.7 per cent.

The Nasdaq is up 1,410.17 points, or 26.2 per cent.

The Russell 2000 is up 129.75 points, or 9.6 per cent.