Upbeat corporate earnings along with recovering crude oil prices lifted the markets to a sharply higher close with the Dow leaping 189 points to 17,630. Nasdaq soared 49 points to 5,089.

On the upside

AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) reported a better than expected loss for the second quarter.

Second quarter earnings climbed for ICON (Nasdaq: ICLR) to beat expectations prompting the company to lift its full year earnings outlook.

TrueCar (Nasdaq: TRUE) expects July retail auto sales to increase by 4.2% from the previous year.

On the downside

Levi & Korsinky initiated an investigation into possible securities violations by the Immunomedics (Nasdaq: IMMU) Board of Directors.

Smith Micro Software (Nasdaq: SMSI) narrowed second quarter losses but revenue missed estimates.

Shares of LivePeson (Nasdaq: LPSN) fell ahead of its earnings release tomorrow after market close.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 surged 25 points to 2093. Bitcoin slipped $1 to $290.