Wall Street climbs amid focus on corporate earnings

US stock indices rose during Thursday’s trading as markets turned their attention to quarterly corporate earnings results.

The second-quarter earnings season for companies listed on Wall Street has officially begun, starting with bank earnings, most of which have shown strong data.

Government data released today showed that US retail sales rose by 0.6% month-on-month in June, exceeding Dow Jones estimates, which had pointed to a 0.2% increase.

Other data showed that initial jobless claims in the US declined by 7,000 to 221,000 in the week ending July 12, while expectations had pointed to an increase to 233,000.

As for trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.3% (or 125 points) to 44,380 points as of 16:28 GMT. The broader S&P 500 gained 0.4% (or 23 points) to 6,287 points, while the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.7% (or 140 points) to 20,871 points.