S&P 500 Reaches Two-Month High on Earnings as Oil Gains

U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a two-month high, amid better-than-estimated earnings and speculation that disappointing economic data will lead the Federal Reserve to add stimulus. Oil surged, while crops rallied as a drought intensified.

The S&P 500 increased 0.3 percent to 1,376.51 at 4 p.m. in New York, its highest close since May 3. Ten-year Treasury yields rose one basis point to 1.50 percent. The Dollar Index, a gauge of the currency against six major peers, lost 0.2 percent after gaining as much as 0.1 percent. Oil rallied 3.1 percent to a two-month high of $92.66 a barrel. Soybeans reached a record and wheat climbed to the highest since 2008 as the worst U.S. drought since 1956 scorched fields.