New York: Wall Street stocks were mixed early Thursday following an uneven batch of earnings as investors eyed ongoing trade talks between the US and China.
About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5 percent at 24,822.22.
The broad-based S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent to 2,684.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.8 percent to 7,239.89.
President Donald Trump said on Twitter that trade talks with China in Washington were “going well,” but that a final deal would await a meeting between him and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping “in the near future.”
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare characterized the statement as ambiguous, saying, “it’s neither a good nor bad revelation from the president, but it just keeps the market guessing about this important issue.”
In earnings news, Facebook surged 11.3 percent after reporting a record quarterly profit of $6.9 billion as it boosted its global user base despite scandals that have dented the leading social network’s image.
But Microsoft dropped 1.8 percent after it reported revenues of $32.5 billion, a bit below expectations.
Among other companies reporting results, General Electric jumped 9.4 percent, UPS gained 5.7 percent and Visa shed 2.5 percent.
[source_without_link]AFP[/source_without_link]