U.S. stocks spike to close at record highs amid corporate earnings

NEW YORK, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks rebounded and notched record highs on Thursday, as investors were optimistic about the fourth quarter corporate earnings season.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 205.60 points, or 0.81 percent, to 25,574.73. The S&P 500 rose 19.33 points, or 0.70 percent, to 2,767.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 58.21 points, or 0.81 percent, to 7,211.78.

Shares of Delta rose 4.76 percent to close at 58.52 U.S. dollars apiece on Thursday, after the company posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Financial giants J.P. Morgan Chase, BlackRock, and Wells Fargo are among the companies scheduled to release results Friday.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the fourth quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 11.8 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 6.9 percent.

Meanwhile, analysts will also be looking for clues about how the recent changes to the U.S. tax code will impact each company. President Donald Trump signed a bill last month that cut the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent.

On the economic front, in the week ending Jan. 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 261,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 250,000, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The 4-week moving average was 250,750, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 241,750.

In another report, U.S. Producer Price Index for final demand fell 0.1 percent in December, seasonally adjusted. Enditem