S & P 500 climbs over five-month high on strong earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S & P 500 rose to its highest level in the world and the Dow climbed for a fifth session on Wednesday. .

Upbeat earnings of CSX Corp. CSX.O ] and airline United Continental ( UAL.N ) helped lift the S & P 500 industrials index .SPLRCI, which gained 1.1 percent and was among the best-performing sectors.

The Dow Jones Average Transportation .DJT jumped 2.3 percent, its biggest daily advance in three months.

Although it is still early in the reporting period, estimates for the U.S. earnings season are improving.

S & P 500 Earnings are higher than average, 21.4 percent in the second quarter, up from an estimate of 20.7 percent on July 1. Of the 48 companies in the index, 87.5 percent .

"We've been having this very nice rally," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at Phoenix Financial Services in New York. "The reason for that is earnings and valuations."

"I think the market would be a lot higher right now if it was not for people worried about trade," Kaufman said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, questioned by members of a House of Representatives committee, said on Wednesday that rising world protectionism would be a risk to a U.S.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose .DJI 79.4 points, 0.32 percent gold, 25.199.29, the S & P 500 .SPX gained 6.07 points, 0.22 percent gold, 2.815.62 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.67 points, 0.01 percent gold, to 7,854.44.

Data showed the U.S. housing market continues to be an economic soft spot. Housing starts fell 12.3 percent in June to a new homebuilders struggled with higher prices and persistent land and labor shortages.

Amazon.com's ( AMZN.O ) stock market value briefly reached $ 900 billion for the first time, marking a major milestone in its 21-year trajectory as a publicly listed company and threatening to dislodge Apple ( AAPL.O ) Wall Street's most valuable jewel.

Berkshire Hathaway ( BRKb.N ) led the financial sector higher, rising 5.3 percent on the news that the company eliminated a restriction on its ability to buy back its own stock.

Morgan Stanley ( MS.N ) shares rose 2.8 percent after the investment bank reported better-than-expected quarterly profit.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet ( GOOGL.O ) edged lower after EU antitrust regulators hit the tech company with a record $ 5 billion fine.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.21-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, has 1.18-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S & P 500 posted 30 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 102 new highs and 47 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.0 billion shares, compared to 6.48 billion over the last 20 trading days.