U.S. equities rose sharply on Tuesday as solid quarterly reports from several large-cap companies rolled through.

The Nasdaq composite jumped about 0.7 percent, sending the index above 6,000 for this first time ever.

"It's certainly a psychological factor," said Jeff Carbone, managing partner of Cornerstone Financial Partners. "It took us many years to get back above 5,000 and now we're at 6,000. But you've got to be careful."

He noted that about 40 percent of the index is being driven by five companies: Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Alphabet and Apple. "If we see a downturn in those names," the index could be in trouble.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 230 points, with Caterpillar and McDonald's contributing the most gains and briefly broke above 21,000. The S&P 500 advanced 0.6 percent, with materials rising more than 1 percent to lead advancers.

"I think we've come to believe that Q1 is soft because of some reason that economists or market analysts haven't been able to pinpoint," said Kim Forrest, senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital. "That doesn't seem to be happening now."

Here are some of the firms that posted quarterly results before the bell:

"Earnings thus far have been good," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial. "That's a good sign that Corporate America is on a renewed path toward growth."

More than 190 S&P components are expected to have reported by the end of the week. Other big names scheduled to release quarterly results this week include Boeing, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and General Motors.

The major U.S. stock indexes soared on Monday after the first round of the French presidential election went as most investors expected. Centrist Emmanuel Macron advanced to the runoff against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. The runoff is scheduled for May 7.