More big businesses joined the earnings parade Tuesday, saying their profits were even larger in the first three months of the year than analysts were expecting, including Caterpillar and McDonald’s. The encouraging reports pushed U.S. indexes to their second straight day of big gains, placing them either close to or firmly in record territory. The Nasdaq composite closed above 6,000 points for the first time.

On Tuesday:

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 14.46 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,388.61.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 232.23 points, or 1.1 percent, to 20,996.12.

The Nasdaq composite gained 41.67, or 0.7 percent, to 6,025.49.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 13.13 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,411.08.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is up 39.92 points, or 1.7 percent.

The Dow is up 448.36 points, or 2.2 percent

The Nasdaq is up 114.97 points, or 1.9 percent.

The Russell 2000 is up 31.22 points, or 2.3 percent.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 149.78 points, or 6.7 percent.

The Dow is up 1,233.52 points, or 6.2 percent

The Nasdaq is up 642.37 points, or 11.9 percent.

The Russell 2000 is up 53.95 points, or 4 percent.

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