US STOCKS-Wall Street higher on strong earnings, Brexit deal

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* Brexit deal yet to receive parliament approval
* Netflix jumps on adding more paying subscribers
* Morgan Stanley wraps up bank earnings with profit beat
* IBM falls on quarterly revenue miss, pressures Dow
* Indexes up: Dow 0.08%, S&P 500 0.31%, Nasdaq 0.33%

(Updates to early afternoon, adds comments)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday on the back
of strong earnings from Netflix and Morgan Stanley, with
Britain's preliminary last-minute deal with the European Union
adding to the upbeat mood.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said "we have a great
new Brexit deal", although he still faces a tough vote in
parliament on Saturday. "It seems as if the Brexit deal is being viewed as a modest
positive by investors but along with the tentative U.S.-China
trade deal, the devil is in the details," said Michael Geraghty,
equity strategist at Cornerstone Capital Group in New York.
"From where we are right now investors are viewing the glass
as half full."
Netflix Inc NFLX.O shares rose 3.6%, after the video
streaming service provider added slightly more paying
subscribers than Wall Street's expectations in the third
quarter. The stock helped the communication services sector .SPLRCL
rise 0.7%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes touched near one-month
highs earlier in the day.
Morgan Stanley MS.N climbed 3% after the bank beat
analysts' expectations for quarterly profit, wrapping up strong
earnings from major U.S. lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co
JPM.N , Citigroup Inc C.N and Bank of America
BAC.N .
"We've had pretty good earnings reports so far but that is
also because the bar had been lowered well before entering the
season," said Vincent Deluard, global macro strategist at INTL
FCStone.
Supporting sentiment was White House economic adviser Larry
Kudlow's comments that he sees momentum to finalize the initial
phase of a U.S.-China trade deal outlined last week, adding it
may be signed at the APEC forum next month. Rising uncertainties around the trade war, increasing
geopolitical risks and weak domestic economic indicators have
been a concern for investors.
In the latest sign, data showed U.S. homebuilding tumbled
from a more than a 12-year high in September, while another
report showed a deceleration in factory activity in the
mid-Atlantic region in October. "The manufacturing data is not really new, the housing data
on the other hand is starting to show a softening consumer,"
said Joe Mallen chief investment officer at Helios Quantitative
Research in Tampa, Florida.
The third-quarter earnings season is expected to see its
first year-on-year contraction since 2016, with analysts
estimating a 2.9% drop in S&P 500 earnings.
Of the 63 S&P 500 companies to have posted quarterly results
so far, 82.5% have beaten estimates.
At 1:05 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 20.27 points, or 0.08%, at 27,022.25, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 9.40 points, or 0.31%, at 2,999.09 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 26.70 points, or 0.33%, at 8,150.88.
Limiting gains on the blue-chip index was a 6% slide in
shares of International Business Machines Corp IBM.N after the
company missed quarterly revenue estimates.
The Dow Jones Transports index .DJT , which is closely
watched by investors to gauge the health of the economy, was up
0.8%.
CSX Corp CSX.O shares rose 2% after the railroad operator
beat quarterly profit expectations.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.00-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.82-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 33 new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 46 new lows.