Dow, in a first, ends day above 23,000

A day of modest gains on Wall Street resulted in more milestones for U.S. stocks Wednesday as the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 23,000 points for the first time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite also finished at record highs.

Technology and financial firms led the gainers as investors weighed the latest batch of company earnings. IBM shares posted their biggest one-day gain since 2009.

The S&P 500 and Dow also set records Monday and Tuesday.

The Dow closed above 22,000 for the first time Aug. 2, and since then, the bestperforming components have been Boeing, Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs, Home Depot and 3M. The Dow is up 3,395 points this year.

Stocks can still grind higher as long as the economy continues to expand and firms increase revenue, said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “Overall, the underpinning for the market is solid,” Krosby said.

Investors sized up the latest raft of earnings.

IBM jumped 8.9% to $159.53 after the tech and consulting firm delivered strong quarterly results. Even so, the stock remains down 3.9% for the year.

IBM’s gain was responsible for 89 points of the Dow’s increase Wednesday, and Goldman Sachs accounted for 40 points of its climb.

Financial stocks led the gainers. Goldman Sachs ticked up 2.5% to $242.03. Assurant climbed 6.2% to $101.80 after the insurer said it would buy Warranty Group for $2.5 billion.

Northern Trust rose 3.8% to $94.58 after the bank’s earnings and revenue beat estimates. The bank also plans to cut $250 million in annual spending by 2020.

Anthem, the secondlargest U.S. health insurer, rose 2.4% to $191.79 after announcing that it had entered a prescription benefits management deal with CVS. CVS rose 2% to $74.10.

Electronic Arts slid 2.4% to $113.16 after the video game company said it will postpone the release of an upcoming “Star Wars” game. EA is also closing its Visceral Games studio.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.34% from 2.30%.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 16 cents to $52.04 a barrel. Brent crude rose 27 cents to $58.15 a barrel. Shares of drilling and oil production firms fell, part of a steep slide in energy stocks.

Wholesale gasoline rose a penny to $1.64 a gallon. Heating oil fell a penny to $1.80 a gallon. Natural gas fell 11 cents, or 3.6%, to $2.85 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell $3.20 to $1,283 an ounce. Silver fell 4 cents to $17 an ounce. Copper fell 2 cents to $3.18 a pound.

The dollar rose to 112.90 yen from 112.18 yen. The euro rose to $1.1802 from $1.1772.