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NEW YORK, July 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks kept setting records for the week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average extending its record run to a seventh straight day, as investors digested quarterly earnings reports from big companies and economic reports.
In a heavy week of corporate earnings and a light week of economic data, a batch of generally positive quarterly results from notable companies spurred market bulls.
On Monday, U.S. stocks closed higher, with the Dow and the S&P 500 refreshing their record highs once again, boosted by better-than-expected Bank of America's quarterly earnings report.
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks closed mixed, with the Dow extending its record run to a sixth straight day, as Wall Street digested a batch of mixed earnings reports.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks rallied broadly, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 refreshing their intraday and closing records, as investors cheered over positive quarterly earnings reports from Morgan Stanley and Microsoft.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks dipped, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapping a nine-day winning streak, weighed by a decline in oil prices.
On Friday, U.S. stocks regained steam, with the S&P 500 setting its seventh closing record of 2016, as investors pondered positive economic data while looking into next week' s Federal Reserve meeting.
However, the latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the second quarter of 2016 are expected to decrease 3.8 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to decline 0.6 percent.
On the economic front, in the week ending July 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 253,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level.
U.S. privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.189 million units, 4.8 percent above the revised May estimate.
The seasonally adjusted Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose from June's reading of 51.3 to 52.9 in July, beating market consensus of 51.9.
On a weekly basis, all three major indices rallied for a fourth consecutive week, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq going up 0.3 percent, 0.6 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. Enditem
