US stocks move higher following earnings news

Better corporate earnings helped nudge up stocks in one of the quietest sessions this year. Health-care companies led the big indexes to slight gains, while Berkshire Hathaway crossed a milestone: trading above $200,000 per share for the first time. Strong profit at Perrigo, a drug maker, drove its stock up 7%, the biggest gain on the S&P 500. Merck rose 2% after it won approval for a new sleeping pill. The S&P 500 is still hovering near record highs — it has gained nearly 6% this year — leading some to fret that the market looks overvalued. But a mostly solid second-quarter earnings season, now nearly over, may put investors’ worries to rest.