By Avantika Chilkoti and Michael Wursthorn 

Stocks rose Thursday, stoked by solid earnings reports from Netflix, Morgan Stanley and others, as well as a preliminary Brexit deal that has the potential to remove a major obstacle facing investors.

More than a tenth of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported results so far and numbers are mostly coming in ahead of analysts' expectations. That gave the stock market some support a day after weak retail sales data raised concerns that a major component of the economy, American consumers, were slowing their spending.

Investor sentiment in the U.S. and Europe also got a boost after U.K. and European Union negotiators reached an agreement on a new Brexit deal. However, mounting concerns about U.K. lawmakers' support for the accord tempered the market's reaction and led to some reversals.

The S&P 500 added 0.3% in recent trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 37 points, or 0.1%, to 27039. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, advanced 0.3%.

Corporate earnings drove most of the biggest movements among individual stocks.

Shares of Netflix climbed 4.8% after the online video-streaming service posted solid earnings late Wednesday and expanded its subscriber base domestically and abroad, although growth fell short of its own target.

Morgan Stanley added 3.2% after it handily topped analysts' profit forecasts.

United Rentals, meanwhile, led the broad index higher on a percentage basis, gaining 6.1% after the equipment rental company also beat analysts' projections.

Dover also notched a big gain, rising 5.5% after the raised the low end of its full-year guidance after the industrial conglomerate reported better-than-expected quarterly profits and revenue.

Of the 64 companies in the S&P 500 to post results so far, 52 have topped estimates, according to FactSet.

Companies have a lower bar to beat, however, after analysts cut profit estimates in recent months, lowering figures across all 11 sectors of the S&P 500 to account for waning global growth and the U.S.'s prolonged trade fight with China.

The companies in the index are still on track to report an earnings contraction of 4.7% from a year earlier, the biggest profit pullback of the year, according to FactSet.

Companies like International Business Machines and Honeywell International both reported lackluster earnings that were down from the same period a year earlier. Shares of both companies fell in recent trading.

In Europe, assets ranging from the British pound and the euro to European stocks initially surged on the draft deal being struck. But most of those assets gave up their gains following signs the deal will face some opposition in the U.K. Parliament.

The pound fell 0.3% against the dollar after earlier reaching a five-month high of $1.2987. The U.K.'s FTSE 250 index, a gauge that includes local companies with significant domestic operations, pared back gains to 0.2%. The broader Stoxx 600 was up just 0.1% in recent trading.

"There is still a huge amount of uncertainty, there is the question of whether the prime minister can get any deal through Parliament," said William Dinning, head of investment strategy and communications at Waverton Investment Management. "The next thing that opens up is the likelihood of a general election. And I am of the view that sterling will come under pressure again in an election campaign.

Write to Avantika Chilkoti at Avantika.Chilkoti@wsj.com and Michael Wursthorn at Michael.Wursthorn@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 17, 2019 11:51 ET (15:51 GMT)

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