NEW YORK: US markets registered their best gains so far this month on good earnings reports from Mattel, Coca-Cola and Johnson and Johnson, as Citigroup rose 1.6 per cent after the shock resignation of its CEO.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 127.55 points (0.95 per cent) to 13,551.78.

The broad-based SandP 500 rose 14.79 (1.03 per cent) to 1,454.92, while the tech-rich Nasdaq added 36.99 (1.21 per cent) to 3,101.17.

The unexplained departures of Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit and his top aide, chief operating officer John Havens, fed a glut of speculation, with most reports pointing to a clash with the board over policy and perhaps compensation.

"This is a change that just feels like it does not add up," said Jon Ogg, an analyst at 24/7WallSt.com.

But investors liked the result, and Pandit's replacement -- Michael Corbat, the head of Citi's Europe, Middle East and Africa division -- pushing Citi's shares up 58 cents to US$37.24.

Forecast-beating earnings from several top companies, and a rebound in leading stocks like Apple (+2.4 per cent), Intel (+2.9 per cent) and Caterpillar (+2.6 per cent), were behind the market's overall gain.

Johnson and Johnson surged 1.4 per cent to US$69.74 after reporting quarterly profit of US$3.0 billion, or US$1.05 a share.

Coca-Cola gained 1.6 per cent on its 3.9 per cent rise in third-quarter net earnings.

Toymaker Mattel's shares shot up 5.0 per cent after it turned in earnings of US$366 million, up 22 per cent from a year earlier, on a four per cent rise in worldwide sales.

Against the grain, Goldman Sachs fell 1.0 per cent despite reporting a forecast-beating return to profit and hiking its quarterly dividend, to 50 cents from 46 cents.

Wireless tower operator Clearwire shares plunged 17.0 per cent after Monday's surge on speculation that it might benefit from the Softbank takeover of Sprint. -- AFP