US stocks race higher on strong gains (AFP)

NEW YORK (AFP) - left us the grid with a bang on Wednesday, stocks fired up the fire by a series of better than expected earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 190.04 points (1.55%) of the 12,456.79 by 1430 GMT, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite stir-fry 55.78 points (2.03%) to 2,800.75.

"The bulls get their subsistence from a plethora of better than expected earnings reports," Charles Schwab analysts said in a client note.

Solid gains for blue chips Dow Intel, IBM and United Technologies and the Internet giant Yahoo!, helped ignite the purchase shortcut to Easter holiday week. Markets will be closed Friday.

Index S & P 500, a broader measure of markets, advanced 18.63 points (1.42%) to 1,331.25.

Patrick O'Hare to Briefing.com said investors were looking past the potential risks of the macroeconomic situation, including the political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

"The implied message, but it is clear in the body of the reports of earnings is that the noise of unrest region macro MENA, the Japan earthquake, spikes, price of raw materials and concerns of sovereign debt have not undermine commercial activity in the way that many have been fearing"said."."

Giant computer chip Intel reported with better forecasts of earnings after the market closed Tuesday and dismissed the gloomy forecasts for sales of personal computer, forecast growth of more than 10% this year and in 2012.

Intel shares rose 6.3% to $21.12.

Yahoo! jumped almost 6.0 per cent to $17.08, while IBM slipped 0.5% to $164.61

United Technologies added 4.4 85.96% $ after the industrial conglomerate raised its forecast for the rest of the year.

AT & T has increased from 0.5% to $26.66. My Bell reported a 39 percent jump in the first quarter earnings, in accordance with the expectations of Wall Street and new customers of two million cellular phone.

"We expect to continue to focus on compensation with the list of reports extension that we're making progress since the beginning of the reporting season to the vying for business, investors in the coming days,", said Frederic Dickson to DA Davidson & Co.

Investors also better than expected news about the difficulty had walked us home.

The National Association of Realtors reported for sales of homes owned previously, dominant sector of real estate, rose 3.7% in March.

"Existing home sales rose in six of the last eight months, we are clearly on a path to recovery," said Chief Economist Lawrence Yun NAR.

The weak bond market. On the 10-year Treasury yield to 3.39% to 3.35% late Tuesday, while that on the 30-year Treasury Council increased to 4.44% of 4.43.

Obligations and prices move in opposite directions.

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