S&P 500, Nasdaq Notch Records, But Historic Collapse In 3M Stock Caps Dow's Rally

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq on Tuesday notched fresh all-time highs as Wall digested an array of better-than-expected corporate-results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 100 points, or 0.5%, but the blue-chip average's advance was limited by a plunge in shares of component 3M Co. , which marked its sharpest-ever net drop on a dollar-basis on record, off $10.61, or down 5.1%, according to WSJ Market Data Group, tracking data going back to 1972. The slump cut about 70 points from the price-weighted Dow. 3M's share slide came after disappointing earnings. The Post-it Notes-and-Scotch tape maker's stock decline, however, was more than offset by a tandem of firm rallies in McDonald's Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. , which reported second-quarter results that outstripped Street estimates. The S&P 500 index finished at a record at 2,477, up 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index eked out its own all-time high, ending little changed but in the green at 6,412. A drop in Google-parent Alphabet Inc. , after reporting earnings late-Monday, weighed on the technology-centric index. In other action, crude-oil prices finished the session with its best daily climb in 2017, as Nigeria and Saudia Arabia reaffirmed plans to limit production and cut crude exports, pushing West Texas Intermediate oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange up about 3%.