Stocks on record run after strong earnings

Encouraging earnings reports from U.S. manufacturers sparked optimism in the world’s largest economy, lifting equities, the dollar and Treasury yields.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new high Tuesday after Caterpillar and 3M delivered results that topped estimates, while General Motors and Fiat Chrysler also rallied on earnings. Benchmark Treasury yields broke through the key 2.4 percent level, while Bloomberg’s dollar index reached the highest point since July.

Elsewhere, investors were eyeing catalysts stretching from an impending European Central Bank meeting and the crisis in Catalonia, to upheaval in the U.S. Senate and the choice of the next Federal Reserve chair.

European government bond yields widened and the euro strengthened after data showed the region’s economy maintaining momentum. Japanese equities built on recent gains, with the Nikkei climbing for a record-breaking 16th consecutive session as the yen weakened. Gold fell as industrial metals advanced.

The strong results from some of America’s biggest companies fueled speculation that growth is picking up even as President Donald Trump’s economic policies remain largely unfulfilled. An intensifying war of words between the president and Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee has muddied the prospects for a tax overhaul. Arizona Republican Jeff Flake announced he wouldn’t seek re-election to his Senate seat, delivering a speech highly critical of Trump and further complicating the tax-reform picture.