US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Visa boosts Dow, S&P nears 2000 as Wall St rallies

Reuters - UK Focus

NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, boosted by a strong reading on quarterly economic growth and by another round of upbeat earnings reports including Visa (Xetra: A0NC7B - news) , which rose 10 percent and accounted for more than 140 points in the Dow industrials.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 221.24 points, or 1.3 percent, to 17,195.55, the S&P 500 gained 12.33 points, or 0.62 percent, to 1,994.63 and the Nasdaq Composite added 16.91 points, or 0.37 percent, to 4,566.14.

Healthcare and utilities, both up nearly 20 percent year-to-date, led gains on the S&P 500.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Nick Zieminski)