U.S. stocks tick up amid earnings reports

U.S. stocks traded higher around midday Wednesday, as Wall Street digested a slew of quarterly earnings reports from big companies.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42.77 points, or 0.24 percent, to 18,096.37. The S&P 500 added 3.60 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,104.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 15.78 points, or 0.32 percent, to 4,956.11.

After Tuesday's closing bell, Yahoo! Inc. reported adjusted profit of 8 cents per share for the first quarter of 2016, generally in line with market estimates.

However, much of the attention from investors is focusing on the ongoing sale process for Yahoo's core Internet business. The company's shares jumped more than 3 percent around midday Wednesday.

Shares of Intel rose nearly 2 percent around midday Wednesday after the tech giant posted quarterly earnings above market expectations and revenues on par with forecasts.

Shares of Coca-Cola tumbled about 5 percent around midday Wednesday after the release of the world's biggest beverage maker's lackluster quarterly results.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2016 are expected to decrease 7.5 percent year on year, while the revenue is forecast to decline 1.3 percent.

On the economic front, U.S. total existing-home sales rose 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million units in March from a downwardly revised 5.07 million in February, according to the National Association of Realtors Wednesday.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks closed mixed as Wall Street digested quarterly earnings reports from big companies and the country's housing market data. Endit