New York, Jul 19 (IANS): US stocks closed higher as the market sentiment was lifted by a central bank official's remarks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday rose 3.12 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 27,222.97. The S&P 500 was up 10.69 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 2,995.11, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 22.04 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 8,207.24.

Major indices turned up into green territory in the afternoon after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said "it pays to act quickly to lower rates at the first sign of economic distress."

Market expectations for a rate cut in July were at 100 per cent, with 66.9 per cent looking to a 50-basis-point cut, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

The gains were kept in checks as investors digested mixed corporate earnings reports.

Shares of Netflix plunged more than 10 per cent after the streaming giant reported a large miss on international subscriber number growth.

It reported quarterly international paid subscriber additions of 2.83 million, and domestic paid subscriber losses of 126,000.

The numbers offset its better-than-expected earnings per share result, which hit $0.60.

Morgan Stanley reported net revenues of $10.2 billion and earnings per share of $1.23, both beating Wall Street's estimates.

The market has become increasingly bearish about the second-quarter earnings reports.

Analysts currently estimate S&P 500 year-on-year quarterly earnings will decline 0.1 per cent, according to Refinitiv.