Wall Street's main indexes rose on Thursday, boosted by a late-afternoon rally and gains in heavyweight growth stocks, including Tesla.

Tesla shares surged 9.8 percent after the electric vehicle maker late on Wednesday posted better-than-expected quarterly results. The gains helped offset a slide in telecom and energy shares, while AT&T Inc tumbled, sending telecom shares down after the wireless carrier cut its cash flow forecast saying some subscribers were delaying bill payments. Energy stocks slipped on weak crude prices.

“The earnings picture has been maybe a little better than investors feared," said J. Bryant Evans, investment adviser and portfolio manager at Cozad Asset Management. "We investors are thinking that ..especially technology (sector) has come down too far, and maybe there's some valuation opportunities there.”

Amazon and Apple each rose 1.5 percent, with both companies set to report their earnings on July 28.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.51 percent, to 32,036, the S&P 500 gained 1 percent to 3,998 and the Nasdaq added 1.36 percent, to 12,059.

Nine of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 closed in positive territory, with consumer discretionary, heath care and information technology posting the biggest gains adding over 1 percent each.

Falling oil prices hit the S&P 500 energy sector, which tumbled 1.7 percent to lead declines across the sectors.

Market participants continue to await anxiously for the US Federal Reserve meeting next week where policymakers are expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points to curb runaway inflation.

Joining its global peers, the European Central Bank delivered a 50 basis points rate hike to tame inflation in its first rate increase since 2011.

The Fed rate decision next week will be followed by the crucial second-quarter US gross domestic product data, which is likely to be negative again. (Reuters)