By Abhiram Nandakumar
REUTERS - The S&P 500 breached 2,100 on Tuesday, about 30 points shy of its record high, boosted by a rise in crude and earnings reports from heavyweights Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson.
The Dow Jones industrial average stayed above 18,000, a day after crossing the key psychological barrier for the first time since July, on rising optimism that corporate earnings would continue to beat tempered expectations.
Oil was up about 3 percent, shrugging off Sunday's failed talks among producers to tackle a global glut.
Only the Nasdaq composite edged lower, weighed by a 25 percent slide in Illumina. The diagnostic test maker's shares were trading at $133.81 after its preliminary results fell short of expectations.
"Companies have been coming in more or less in line with what we thought they would do and it's also adding to our thesis that it's another year of slow growth," said Kim Forrest, research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
While U.S. corporate earnings are seen as a swing factor for the stock market, expectations are bleak. First-quarter earnings at S&P 500 companies are expected to fall 7.7 percent on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
At 10:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 58.89 points, or 0.33 percent, at 18,063.05.
The S&P 500 was up 6.95 points, or 0.33 percent, at 2,101.29, the highest since early December.
The Nasdaq Composite was down 6.57 points, or 0.13 percent, at 4,953.45.
Eight of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 1.59 percent rise in the materials sector. Energy was up 1.29 percent.
Johnson & Johnson rose 1.8 percent to $112.94 after it reported a marginal growth in quarterly sales. The stock was the biggest positive influence on the S&P 500.
Goldman Sachs shares were up 1.8 percent at $161.98. The bank's shares fell premarket after it reported a fall in profit for the fourth straight quarter. The stock gave the biggest boost to the Dow.
Other bank stocks also rose. Bank of America was up 2 percent, while JP Morgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo were all up 1.5 percent.
IBM fell 5.6 percent to $144 after it reported its worst quarterly revenue in 14 years, and was the biggest drag on the Dow and S&P 500.
Netflix shares were down 10 percent at $97.52 after the video streaming service's subscriber forecast missed estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,156 to 695. On the Nasdaq, 1,626 issues rose and 941 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 37 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and seven lows.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)
