Earnings gains drive stocks higher on Wall Street

The advance put the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index back into record territory.

The Dow was up 106 points, or 0.7 percent, at 15,576 at noon Eastern Daylight Time Thursday. The gains were led by IBM and UnitedHealth.

The S&P 500 was up 10 points, or 0.6 percent, at 1,691.

The Nasdaq composite rose nine points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,619. The technology-focused index was held back by declines in Intel and eBay, which reported disappointing results late Wednesday.

Financial stocks were among the gainers. Morgan Stanley rose 5 percent to $27.89 after reporting a surge in revenue from investment banking and wealth management.