U.S. stocks extend gains amid upbeat earnings

NEW YORK, April 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning session on Tuesday as Wall Street cheered over a string of strong quarterly earnings reports.

Around midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 263.52 points, or 1.07 percent, to 24,836.56. The S&P 500 increased 29.29 points, or 1.09 percent, to 2,707.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 121.54 points, or 1.70 percent, to 7,277.83.

Shares of Netflix soared more than 8 percent around noon Tuesday after the video-streaming provider reported higher-than-expected subscriber growth.

Shares of Goldman Sachs dipped over 1 percent around midday Tuesday even though the U.S. bank delivered quarterly profit and revenue that both beat market consensus.

Economic data came out positive. U.S. privately-owned housing was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,319,000 since March, beating market estimates, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday.

This is 1.9 percent above the revised February estimate of 1,295,000 and is 10.9 percent above the March 2017 rate of 1,189,000.

Meanwhile, U.S. industrial production rose 0.5 percent in March, above market consensus of 0.4 percent, and the index advanced 4.5 percent at an annual rate for the first quarter of 2018 as a whole, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday. Enditem