Wall St ends higher amid mixed earnings, Trump-Xi meeting confirmed

STORY: U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday, with the Dow adding almost a third of a percent, the S&P 500 gaining more than half a percent and the Nasdaq climbing roughly nine-tenths of a percent.The indexes gained some momentum after the White House confirmed President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week.Stocks were also boosted by some strong third quarter earnings results, including from American Airlines, notes Liz Miller, president of Summit Place Financial Advisors."American Airlines are of note today because again, that feeling of sentiment that travel was affected this summer, that it was going to be difficult for companies in that discretionary area to do well. And then we not only saw very good results out of American, we saw them raising their outlook for the next part of the year. And across different industries, this is the theme we're seeing rewarded."Shares of the carrier gained more than 5.5%.Honeywell raised its annual profit forecast on strong aerospace demand, sending its shares up nearly 7%.Shares of Dow jumped 13% after the company reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss as cost cuts and higher volumes helped offset weakness in chemical prices. And shares of Valero Energy rose 7%, after the oil refiner reported better-than-expected third-quarter profits on the back of a rebound in refining margins and record refinery throughput in the Gulf Coast and North Atlantic regions.