U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, lifting the S&P 500 to a record, as Wall Street considered quarterly earnings and data that cast a benign light on inflation and progress in the housing market.
After Tuesday's close, Apple reported quarterly earnings of $1.28 a share on revenue of $37.4 billion, versus expectations of EPS of $1.23 on roughly $37.98 billion in sales. Shares declined in after-hours trading. Microsoft rose in after-hours trading after the software giant posted earnings that fell short of Wall Street's expectations and revenue that surpassed estimates.
"We're finally starting to see revenue growth kick in, and that's the pivot point to this earnings season so far," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities.
Investors embraced results by CNBC's parent company Comcast, as well as from Verizon and Chipotle Mexican Grill. Coca-Cola shares fell after the beverage maker reported a 3 percent fall in quarterly profit. McDonald's declined after the fast-food chain reported earnings that fell short of estimates.
The consumer price index rose 0.3 percent last month after a 0.4 percent rise in May. The core measure, which does not take food and energy costs into account, increased 0.1 percent.
Read MorePrices rise in June as consumers feel pain at the pump
"There is no upside surprise to inflation expectations, which is good news because there is a cohort of investors that believe the Fed is behind the curve as it relates to inflation, and the most recent reading does not bear that out," said Hogan at Wunderlich Securities.
Another report from the National Association of Realtors had existing-home sales rising a better-than-expected 2.6 percent in June.
Major U.S. Indexes
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as much as 81 points, and finished up 61.81 points, or 0.4 percent higher, at 17,113.54, with Intel leading blue-chip gains that included 20 of 30 components.
After rising above its July 3 record, the added 9.90 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,983.53, with technology and health care leading sector gains and consumer staples and utlities the laggards among its 10 major industry groups.
Shares of Herbalife jumped as hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman alleged the company's nutrition clubs lose an average of $12,000 a year, with Tuesday's presentation by Ackman the latest in a two-year campaign to get the company shut down.
Read MoreHerbalife CFO: Ackman's bark worse than his bite
The Nasdaq climbed 31.31 points, or 0.7 percent, to 4,456.02.
For every share that fell, two gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where 582 million shares traded. Composite volume approached 2.9 billion.
The dollar rose against other global currencies and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.465 percent.
Gold futures for August delivery dipped $7.60 to $1,306.30 an ounce, and crude futures for August delivery shed 17 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $104.42 a barrel.
"It also feels like the international community is working hard to both broker a ceasefire in the Middle East and get to some answers on Ukraine and Malaysia fight MH17," said Wunderlich's Hogan.
In Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Hamas for a truce in fighting between Israel and militants on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 600 people, the vast majority of them Palestinian.
And in eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian rebels released the remains of the nearly 300 killed in the downing of the Malaysian jet shot down last week, as European foreign ministers met in Brussels to consider further sanctions against Russia, which the United States has signaled it believes supplied the missile that downed the plane.
—By CNBC's Kate Gibson and Evelyn Cheng.
Coming Up This Week:
Wednesday
Earnings: Boeing, Pepsico, AT&T, Facebook, Dow Chemical, EMC,Gilead Sciences, Qualcomm, General Dynamics, Norfolk Southern,Owens Corning, Omnicare, Praxair, Whirlpool, Delta Airlines, Biogen Idec, Northrup Grumman, STMicro, Freeport-McMoran, Air Products,Ryder Systems, Raymond James, Glaxo Smithkliine, Cheesecake Factory, TripAdvisor, Assurant, Crown Castle, F5Networks, Angie's List
7:00 a.m.: Mortgage applications
Thursday
Earnings: Caterpillar, MMM, General Motors, Ford, Amazon.com, Visa, Starbucks, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Roche Holdings, Hershey,Dr.Pepper Snapple, Pulte Group, Union Pacific, T. Rowe Price, KKR,Nasdaq Group, Altera, Chubb, Federated, Imax, JetBlue, Pandora,Decker's Outdoor, Kla-Tencor, Baidu, Brunswick, Dunkin Brands,Scholastic, Supervalu, Grubhub, Cabela's,Under Armour, Wyndham Worldwide, Imax, Flextronics, Freescale Semi, Maxim, SolarWinds,Mettler-Toledo
8:30 a.m.: Initial claims
8:58 a.m.: Manufacturing PMI
10:00 a.m.: New home sales
Friday
Earnings: Aon, Xerox, Statoil, Black and Decker, Tyco,AveryDennison, Moody's, Covidien
8:30 a.m.: Durable goods
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