Markets Right Now: Solid earnings drive US stocks higher

NEW YORK (AP) — The latest on developments in financial markets:

Stocks are higher in midday trading on Wall Street as several companies gained after reporting solid earnings.

McDonald’s rose 4 percent Tuesday and Caterpillar climbed 5 percent.

Barnes & Noble jumped 13 percent after an activist investor announced he had bought a stake in the struggling bookseller and urged it to pursue a sale.

Banks posted some of the biggest gains. Citigroup rose 3.5 percent.

Major indexes were trading at record highs.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 10 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,480.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 131 points, or 0.6 percent, to 21,644.

Technology stocks lagged the market. The Nasdaq gave inched up 5 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,415.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.31 percent.