Strong earnings from IBM and other technology companies helped the stock market close higher for the third day straight. IBM surged 4 percent after it posted a jump in profits late Wednesday. Big banks and financial firms were mostly lower, following poor earnings from American Express and Morgan Stanley.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 34.66 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,943.36.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.73 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,376.51

The Nasdaq composite index climbed 23.30 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,965.90.

For the week:

The Dow is up 166.27, or 1.3 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 19.73, or 1.5 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 57.43, or 2 percent.

For the year:

The Dow is up 725.80 points, or 5.9 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 118.91 points, or 9.5 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 360.75 points, or 13.9 percent.