Banks lead Wall St. higher ahead of earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks posted muted gains on Thursday, with financials giving the S&P 500 a bump a day ahead of earnings reports from several big U.S. banks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 20.95 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,553.09, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 4.58 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,447.83 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 13.27 points, or 0.21 percent, to 6,274.44.

(Reporting by Kimberly Chin; Editing by Nick Zieminski)