U.S. stocks tick up on upbeat earnings

U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning session on Wednesday, as major earnings reports for the first quarter of 2015 came in generally positive.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 61.27 points, or 0.34 percent, to 18,097.97. The S&P 500 gained 10.12 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,105.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 24.78 points, or 0.50 percent, to 5,002.07.

Intel reported quarterly results after Tuesday's closing bell. The chipmaker posted first-quarter revenue of 12.8 billion dollars, in line with expectations, and net income of 2 billion dollars. Its shares rose 4.38 percent around midday Wednesday, as the company said it expects to benefit from gains in its personal computer chips and its data center business.

Delta Air Lines' first-quarter profit topped analysts' expectations as lower oil price continued to cheer its bottom line. Its shares jumped 3.13 percent around midday Wednesday. Delta's adjusted pre-tax income for the first quarter was 594 million dollars, an increase of 150 million over the same period of 2014.

Bank of America posted a first quarter net income of 3.4 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.27 per diluted share Wednesday. Its quarterly profit narrowly beat analysts' expectations. Its shares dipped 1.01 percent around midday.

On the economic front, Industrial production decreased 0.6 percent in March after increasing 0.1 percent in February, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. For the first quarter of 2015 as a whole, industrial production declined at an annual rate of 1. 0 percent, the first quarterly decrease since the second quarter of 2009.

"The strong dollar, weak global economy and weakness in the oil industry likely all contributed to the drop. Weather and the port slowdown may have hurt production too," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note. Endite