Dow, S&P 500 Ended Up on Upbeat Earnings

The Dow and S&P 500 ended higher on Thursday after a round of positive corporate earnings announcements, but gains were curbed and the Nasdaq lost ground on a drop in the healthcare sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.40 points, or 0.31%, to 23,400.86. The S&P 500 gained 3.25 points, or 0.13%, to 2,560.40. the Nasdaq Composite dropped 7.12 points, or 0.11%, to 6,556.77.

U.S. oil futures climbed to the highest level since mid April on Thursday, with global benchmark Brent crude settling at its highest since July 2015. December West Texas Intermediate crude rose 46 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $52.64 a barrel. December Brent crude added 86 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $59.30 a barrel.

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) sales jumped 34 percent in the third quarter and profit topped analysts’ estimates. It said net income rose to $256 million, or 52 cents per share in the quarter ending Sept. 30. The company’s net sales rose 33.7 percent to $43.74 billion from $32.71 billion.

Microsoft’s fiscal first quarter earnings beat Wall Street expectation. It reported its fiscal first-quarter earnings rose to $6.58 billion, or 84 cents a share, from $5.67 billion, or 72 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 12% to $24.5 billion.

Intel Corp (INTC) beat Wall Street estimates for the quarter and raised its outlook for the year. The company reported third-quarter net income of $4.52 billion, or 94 cents a share, compared with $3.38 billion, or 69 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $16.15 billion from $15.78 billion in the year-ago period.

Alphabet Inc. beat earnings and revenue expectations. Alphabet, which owns Google, reported third-quarter net income of $6.73 billion, or $9.57 a share, compared to $6.33 billion, or $7.25 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $27.8 billion from $18.27 billion in the year-ago period.