U.S. stocks close at record highs on upbeat earnings

U.S. stocks rallied Thursday, with all three major indices refreshing their new closing highs, as Wall Street digested a batch of positive earnings reports amid economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 117.86 points, or 0.64 percent, to 18,613.52. The S&P 500 increased 10.30 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,185.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 23.81 points, or 0.46 percent, to 5,228.40.

Shares of Macy's Inc. rocketed 17.09 percent to 39.81 U.S. dollars apiece Thursday after the release of the U.S. retailer's better-than-expected quarterly results.

Before Thursday's opening bell, Macy's Inc. reported a net income of 11 million U.S. dollars, or three cents per share for the second fiscal quarter of 2016, compared with 217 million dollars, or 64 cents per share, for the same period last year.

Shares of Alibaba soared 5.08 percent to 91.77 dollars apiece Thursday following the release of the Chinese giant's stellar quarterly results.

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 2.5 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to decline 0.5 percent.

On the economic front, in the week ending Aug. 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 266,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 262,750, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average.

In a separate report, the department said that prices for U.S. imports advanced 0.1 percent in July, following a 0.6-percent rise in the previous month. Enditem