Wall Street opens higher helped by strong Microsoft earnings

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened higher on Thursday as a slew of strong earnings reports from companies including Microsoft and Ford helped lift sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 153.12 points, or 0.62 percent, at the open to 24,736.54.

The S&P 500 opened higher by 18.78 points, or 0.71 percent, at 2,674.88. The Nasdaq Composite gained 89.09 points, or 1.25 percent, to 7,197.49 at the opening bell.

(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru)