Wall St advances on oil, earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks notched a second straight day of gains on Wednesday, as climbing oil prices lifted the energy sector and earnings from Morgan Stanley provided a boost to financials.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 40.95 points, or 0.23 percent, to 18,202.89, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 4.72 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,144.32 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 2.58 points, or 0.05 percent, to 5,246.41.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)