New York ? The Dow Jones industrials climbed to their highest close in 14 months Monday, rising sharply in a quiet session following last week’s blackout. Good earnings news from Lowe’s and Toys “R” Us helped lift stocks, but there was little other news to influence the market.

“There is some relief” that the outage was short-lived, said Brian Williamson, an equity trader at The Boston Company Asset Management. “We are back in a normal, quiet day.”

Stephen Carl, principal and head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group, said: “It is just a lackluster day.”

The upturn followed the lightest session of the year Friday as the nation coped with the largest power outage in U.S. history, which left 50 million people without power from the East Coast to Michigan. Many traders stayed home Friday, and many others on Wall Street were already gone on summer vacation.

Analysts say that when there’s nothing to guide the market, its tendency now is to advance. Wall Street observers credit that upward bias to better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and improving economic data.

The Dow closed Monday up 90.76, or 1 percent, 9,412.45, having gained 11.13 Friday. The last time the Dow stood higher at the end of a session was June 20, 2002, when it was at 9,431.77.

The broader market also finished higher.

Strong earnings news contributed to Wall Street’s gains.

Lowe’s rose $3.06 to $51.96 after reporting second-quarter profits that exceeded analysts’ expectations by 6 cents a share and saying it anticipates beating Wall Street’s yearly earnings estimate.

Toys “R” Us traded up 83 cents to $12.71 after raising its yearly earnings outlook.