U.S. Stocks Gain on Earnings; Oil Reaches Four-Month High

U.S. stocks rose on better-than-forecast earnings from companies including Pfizer Inc. and Valero Energy Corp., returning benchmark indexes to five-year highs. Oil helped lead a rally in commodities as global reports boosted economic confidence, while the dollar fell.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.5 percent to 1,507.84 at 4 p.m. in New York and the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped to the highest since October 2007, the month of its record. Oil climbed 1.2 percent to a four-month high of $97.57 a barrel and silver jumped 2 percent to send the S&P GSCI Index of commodities to the highest level since October. The euro strengthened 0.3 percent to $1.3490, its strongest since 2011. Ten-year Treasury yields were almost 2 percent a day after rising above that threshold for the first time since April.