Stocks opened in positive territory thanks to another round of solid earnings reports and momentum from the best two-day market performance in more than two years. The market pared its gains in early trading, but shot higher following President Trump's tweet about having spoken with China’s President Xi on trade. The tweet lifted the market to its session highs, where it then moved in a narrow range for the remainder of the day as investors awaited the earnings report from Apple (AAPL) and tomorrow’s monthly jobs report.

ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., nonfarm productivity growth slowed to a 2.2% rate in Q3, a little weaker than analysts forecast. Initial jobless claims fell 2,000 to 214,000 in the week ended October 27. Markit's manufacturing index edged up 0.1 tick to 55.7 in the final October print, though that was down a bit from the 55.9 preliminary reading. The ISM manufacturing index dropped 2.1 points to 57.7 in October, which was weaker than forecast. Construction spending was unchanged in September after rising 0.8% in August.

COMPANY NEWS: Shares of DowDuPont (DWDP) rose 8% after the company reported better than expected third quarter earnings, announced a $3B stock buyback program and raised its cost synergies target to $3.6B.

Shares of Teva (TEVA) gained 15% after the drugmaker reported better than expected third quarter earnings and raised its profit view for the fiscal year.

In M&A news, Encana (ECA) announced an agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Newfield Exploration (NFX) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $5.5B.

Meanwhile, Alphabet (GOOGL) was in focus as over 1,000 employees and contracts for the company in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. staged midday walk-outs in protest of alleged sexism, racism, and unchecked executive power in the workplace, according to media reports.

MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Acadia (ACHC), which rose nearly 8% after the New York Post reported that KKR (KKR) is close to winning the auction for Acadia. Also higher were Fitbit (FIT) and Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV), which gained a respective 26% and 18% after reporting quarterly results.

Among the notable losers were Wayfair (W) and Hanesbrands (HBI), which fell 13% and 5.5%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.

INDEXES: The Dow rose 264.98, or 1.06%, to 25,380.74 , the Nasdaq gained 128.16, or 1.75%, to 7,434.06, and the S&P 500 advanced 28.63, or 1.06%, to 2,740.37 .