NEW YORK - Wall Street advanced on Thursday as investor sentiment was buoyed by a string of corporate earnings beats and encouraging geopolitical developments.Britain and the European Union agreed to a severance deal, moving closer toward wrapping up three years of uncertainties after Britons voted to leave the bloc.
But of the 63 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 82.5% have come in above estimates. Streaming pioneer Netflix Inc advanced 2.5% after the company reported a rebound in subscribers in the third quarter. In other earnings news, shares of International Business Machines Corp were the biggest drag on the blue-chip Dow, sinking 5.5% after missing quarterly revenue estimates.