NEW YORK The estimate for U.S. third-quarter earnings has improved slightly this week, with more S&P 500 companies including Microsoft reporting stronger-than-expected results.

With results in from 146 of the S&P 500 companies, overall S&P 500 earnings are now estimated to have increased 2.6% in the third quarter from a year ago, according to LSEG IBES data Wednesday.

That was up from an estimate on Tuesday for an increase of 1.7%. The forecasts are based on actual results from S&P 500 companies that have reported and estimates for the rest.

About 80% of the reports so far are beating analysts' earnings expectations compared with an average of 74% over the past four reporting periods, based on LSEG data.

Microsoft late Tuesday beat Wall Street estimates for its quarterly results in all segments. Its cloud computing and PC businesses grew as customers anticipate using its artificial-intelligence offerings.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by David Gregorio)