The Dow Jones Industrials increased 154.07 points to 29,184.29,
The S&P 500 gained 16.76 points to 3,306.05, broke above 3,300 for the first time.
The NASDAQ hiked 71.97 points to 9,330.67.
Morgan Stanley’s three main businesses — investment management, wealth management and trading — all produced more revenue than expected in the previous quarter. The company’s stock jumped 7%.
So far, the earnings season is off to a solid start. Around 7% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings thus far. Of those companies, 76.5% have posted better-than-expected expectations.
Expectations about the earnings season were muted prior to this week. Analysts expected S&P 500 earnings to have fallen by 2% in the fourth quarter.
Strong economic data also lifted sentiment on Wall Street. Weekly jobless claims unexpectedly dropped by 10,000 to 204,000. Economists expected a print of 216,000. Meanwhile, retail sales climbed by 0.3% in December, matching expectations.
Stocks closed well off their session highs on Wednesday after President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed a “phase one” trade deal in Washington, D.C. Under the agreement, China is set to buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods over the next two years.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury sagged, raising yields to 1.8% from Wednesday’s 1.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 36 cents to $58.17 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $1.10 to $1,552.90 U.S. an ounce.