Dow Jones Industrial Average Rallies 100 Points As Intel Corporation (INTC) Jumps 2.5%

U.S. stocks traded higher Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average leaping 100 points, boosted by a more than 2.5 percent gain from chipmaker Intel Corporation. Investors will turn their attention to movie streaming service Netflix Inc. when it reports quarterly results after the closing bell.

In morning trading Wednesday, the Dow (INDEXDJX:.DJI) climbed 100 points, or 0.55 percent, to 18,146.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) added 11.64 points, or 0.55 percent, to 2,107.36. The Nasdaq composite (INDEXSP:.INX) rose 21.93 points, or 0.44 percent, to 4,998.99.

Dow component Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) rallied 2.5 percent in morning trading Wednesday to $32.31 after the world’s largest maker of semiconductors posted earnings in line with Wall Street expectations a day earlier, despite sluggish sales in its personal computer business.

Shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) dipped more than 1 percent, to $15.63 Wednesday after the second-largest U.S. bank by assets reported a quarterly profit of 27 cents per share, two cents below estimates, with revenue slightly below forecasts.

Meanwhile, shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL) jumped more than 4 percent to $44.89 after the airliner posted a first-quarter profit of 90 cents, topping Wall Street expectations. Delta turned in revenue of $9.39 billion, in line with forecasts.

Oil prices traded higher Wednesday ahead of the Energy Information Administration’s U.S. oil inventories report, released at 10:30 a.m. EDT. U.S. crude stockpiles are expected to remain at a record high for the 14th consecutive week, the most at any time in at least 80 years.

Ahead of the report, West Texas Intermediate crude, the benchmark for U.S. oil prices, gained more than 1.4 percent to $54.07 a barrel, for May 15 delivery, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the benchmark for global oil prices, edged up 1.13 percent to $59.09 a barrel, for May 15 delivery, on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

U.S. stocks and European equities seemed to shake off disappointing economic data released out of Asia overnight. China, the world’s second-largest economy, grew at its slowest pace in six years last quarter, signaling more monetary stimulus could be expected soon. Gross domestic product grew an annual 7 percent in the first quarter, slowing from 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.