Investing.com – Wall Street was mixed on Thursday, with disappointing results from 3M weighing on the Dow, while strong results from Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) helped rally the Nasdaq.
3M (NYSE:MMM) fell 10.5% after it announced a 5% drop in first-quarter sales due to weak demand from the automotive sector and a particularly sharp drop-off in sales in China and the Asia-Pacific region. It also announced a restructuring that will cut 2,000 jobs globally.
Meanwhile, Facebook rose 7.2% and Microsoft 3.4% after posting stronger-than-expected results after the bell on Wednesday.
"Facebook and Microsoft are prominent names and you would think that they'd be able to put the market on their shoulders and pull it higher, but 3M is a little more indicative of the global economy because its products are sold ubiquitously," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.
The S&P 500 fell 8 points or 0.3% by 9:44 AM ET (13:44 GMT), while the Dow slumped 261 points or 0.9%, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 23 points or 0.3%.
Elsewhere, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 2.6% after it posted a bigger-than-expected loss and CEO Elon Musk hinted at a possible return to the capital markets, while UPS slumped 5.4%as severe U.S. weather hit its first-quarter results. Boeing (NYSE:BA) inched down 0.1%, while Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) was down 1.3% and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) declined 1%.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) jumped 2.8% after its earnings were boosted by the acquisition of U.K.-based broadcaster Sky, while Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) gained 5.5% and the Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) was up 5%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,283.65 a troy ounce, while crude oil fell 0.1% to $65.81. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat near a new high for 2019 at 97.852.
-Reuters contributed to this report.