Investing.com – Wall Street was higher on Thursday boosted by solid earnings reports and a decline in the U.S. dollar after the European Central Bank kept rates steady.
The S&P 500 rose four points or 0.17% to 2,842.35 as of 11:12 AM ET (15:12 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 126 points or 0.48% to 26,378.38, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was up 16 points or 0.22% to 7,431.03.
Technology stocks were among the biggest movers, with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) rising 0.59%, 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) surging 2.43% after reporting higher than expected financial results and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) gaining 1.19%.
Construction firm Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) was down 1.91% despite posting stronger than expected earnings while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) dipped 0.66% and luxury car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 0.17%.
Markets were also bolstered by a weakening U.S. dollar. The greenback was down after the European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.0% and confirmed that it will continue to purchase €30 billion ($37.2 billion) each month until “the end of September 2018, or beyond, if necessary.”
The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slumped 0.56% to 88.52.
In Europe stocks were mostly down. In Germany the DAX fell 118 points or 0.88% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 17 points or 0.32% and in London the FTSE 100 lost 25 points or 0.33%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 rose 21 points or 0.20% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched down 20 points or 0.56%.
In commodities, gold futures were up 0.12% to $1,357.90 a troy ounce while crude oil futures surged 0.67% to $66.05 a barrel.