· The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 66.02 points, or 0.31 percent, to 21,640.75, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 13.22 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,473.83 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 40.74 points, or 0.64 percent, to 6,385.04.
The major U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs on Wednesday helped partly by technology stocks, which surpassed a long-standing mark, despite gains on the Dow being capped by a sharp drop in IBM shares.
· "Earnings so far have been a mixed bag with most of the big banks down, causing the S&P and Dow to underperform slightly in the near term," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive officer at 50 Park Investments.
"On the other hand, Netflix's strong results has caused money to move to tech stocks in anticipation of stronger earnings. If the big names such as Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon are able to show growth in an otherwise low-growth environment then investors will pay for these stocks."
· Asian indexes were slightly higher in early Thursday trade as investors awaited decisions from the Bank of Japan, Bank Indonesia and the European Central Bank.
· Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.14 percent and South Korea's Kospi edged up by 0.05 percent in early trade.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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