NEW YORK, July 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded higher on Friday as investors digested a slew of quarterly corporate earnings reports.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 86.51 points, or 0.35 percent, to 25,011.40. The S&P 500 rose 4.86 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,803.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 18.44 points, or 0.24 percent, to 7,842.36.
Second quarter earnings are expected to increase 20.7 percent from the same period last year. Excluding the energy sector, the earnings growth estimate declines to 16.9 percent, according to the latest statistics released by Thomson Reuters.
Some of the largest U.S. banks reported mixed quarterly results on Friday before the opening bell.
J.P. Morgan Chase posted record second-quarter profit of 8.32 billion U.S. dollars, an 18-percent increase year-over-year. Its trading revenue rose 13 percent to 5.4 billion dollars, exceeding analysts' expectations.
Citigroup reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit but its revenue missed analysts' estimate.
Wells Fargo reported lower revenue and profit for the second-quarter, falling short of expectations. Enditem
