Wall Street higher for third day on trade optimism, chipmakers results

By Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose for a third straight day on Thursday, as industrials gained after President Donald Trump said trade talks with China were "moving along nicely" and healthy results from chipmakers boosted optimism.

Trump said he plans to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Argentina at the end of the month, reviving hopes that the world's two biggest economies could resolve their bitter trade dispute.

"We got some great earnings so markets started off okay, but then drifted lower, and just as that tweet came out, things turned around, so this shows that trade continues to be a focus for the markets," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

The trade-sensitive S&P industrial sector rose 1.56 percent, with Boeing Co and Caterpillar Inc leading the gains.

The best performer among the 11 major S&P sectors was materials, which jumped 2.78 percent. The biggest boost came from DowDuPont Inc's 6.9 percent surge after the chemicals producer's strong results and $3 billion share buyback.

Apple Inc was 0.07 percent higher ahead of its results after the bell, with technology stocks rising 0.56 percent to continue their recovery.

Also helping was robust earnings reports from three Apple suppliers, NXP Semiconductors, Dialog Semiconductor and Qorvo Inc, which powered the Philadelphia Semiconductor index's 3.71 percent gain.

The technology sector has largely led the stock market's decade-long bull run and also the tumble in October, with the index's 8 percent pullback its worst monthly loss since March 2012.

"People are moving back into technology again, which shows that risk appetite picking up and you see people moving back into high-growth names as well," said Jeff Carbone, managing partner at Cornerstone Wealth in Charlotte, North Carolina.

At 12:58 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 216.44 points, or 0.86 percent, at 25,332.20, the S&P 500 was up 20.66 points, or 0.76 percent, at 2,732.40 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 88.77 points, or 1.21 percent, at 7,394.66.

However, not all earnings were encouraging.

HanesBrands Inc slid 7.3 percent after the innerwear maker cut its full-year profit forecast, blaming Sears Holdings Corp's bankruptcy and a stronger dollar.

Of the 348 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far, 77 percent have reported earnings above expectations, pushing the earnings growth estimate for S&P 500 companies to 26.2 percent, as per IBES data from Refinitiv.

Newfield Exploration Co surged 10.4 percent, the most on the S&P, after Canada's Encana Corp said it would buy the company in a $5.5 billion deal.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 25 new highs and 40 new lows.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sriraj Kalluvila)