U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, with the Dow closing above 23,000 for the first time, as investors were sifting through the overall positive corporate earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 160.16 points, or 0.70 percent, to 23,157.60. The S&P 500 gained 1.90 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,561.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.56 points, or 0.01 percent, to 6,624.22.

Shares of U.S. tech giant IBM soared 8.92 percent to close at 159.53 U.S. dollars, the biggest one-day rise since January 2009, as the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

IBM posted adjusted earnings per share of 3.30 dollars on revenue of 19.15 billion dollars Tuesday after the close, beating market consensus of 3.28 dollars per share and 18.6 billion dollars of revenue.

According to consulting company Earnings Scout, this earnings season has gotten off to a good start, with more than 80 percent of companies that have reported beating on the bottom line, while 73 percent have topped sales estimates.

On the economic front, U.S. housing starts decreased 4.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.127 million units, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. That was the lowest level since September 2016 and followed August's upwardly revised pace of 1.183 million units.