Dow posts 7 consecutive record closes on upbeat earnings

U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 refreshing their intraday and closing records, as investors cheered over positive quarterly earnings reports.

The Dow rose 36.02 points, or 0.19 percent, to 18,595.03. The S&P 500 added 9.24 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,173.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 53.56 points, or 1.06 percent, to 5,089.93.

With no major economic data due Wednesday, quarterly earnings reports from big companies were in focus.

Morgan Stanley reported Wednesday net revenue of 8.9 billion U.S. dollars for the second quarter of 2016, topping analysts' estimates. Its quarterly net income was 1.6 billion dollars, or 75 cents per diluted share.

Shares of the giant bank jumped 2.09 percent to 28.78 U.S. dollars apiece following the release.

After Tuesday's closing bell, Microsoft announced that its quarterly revenue was 20.6 billion dollars and its net income was 3.1 billion dollars, or 39 cents per diluted share, beating market expectations.

Shares of the tech giant surged 5.31 percent to 55.91 dollars apiece Wednesday.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the second quarter of 2016 are expected to decrease 4.3 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to decline 0.7 percent. Endit