US stocks edge up on strong GDP, lackluster earnings

New York:Wall Street stocks edged higher early Friday following a blowout report on second-quarter US economic growth that was partly offset by disappointing earnings from ExxonMobil, Twitter and others.

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 25,565.39.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 percent at 2,839.73, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.1 percent to 7,858.32.

US growth expanded by an annual rate of 4.1 percent, matching analyst expectations, due in part to strong consumer spending, according to Commerce Department data.

The growth rate was the strongest it has been since the third quarter of 2014.

“The key concern for some, though, is that it may not be sustainable given that export growth was likely juiced by pre-tariff activity,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.

Several prominent companies underperformed following lackluster earnings, with Dow member ExxonMobil sliding 2.9 percent after missing profit estimates and Twitter plunging 15.1 percent after the social network warned it could potentially lose millions of users as it cleans up the platform.

But Amazon advanced 3.0 percent after quarterly profits jumped 12-fold to $2.5 billion, far ahead of expectations.

Facebook rose 0.8 percent, recovering a bit after suffering its biggest decline ever in the prior session following a weak outlook.

AFP