Investing.com - Wall Street opened little changed on Thursday, as investors digested corporate earnings.
The S&P 500 fell about 0.5 point, or 0.03%, to 2,856.88 as of 9:37 AM ET (13:37 GMT), while the Dow lost 4 points, or 0.02%, to 25,578.86 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 3 points, or 0.05% to 7,892.29.
Nearly 90% of S&P 500 companies have released their fiscal-quarter results, with 77% reporting better than expected profits, according to FactSet.
Viacom (NASDAQ:VIA), the parent company of MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount, rose 5.67%, despite reporting lower-than-expected revenue. Yelp (NYSE:YELP) surged 18.45% after its earnings came in higher than expected, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched up 0.45% and Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) gained 1.28%.
Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) slumped 12.07% after the company cancelled its merger with Albertsons, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) dipped 1.80% as shareholders speculated about whether or not CEO Elon Musk has secured funding to take the company private.
On the data front, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to a strong economy despite recent trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
In Europe, stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX rose 39 points, or 0.31%, while in France the CAC 40 decreased 7 points, or 0.14%, and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 39 points, or 0.51%. Meanwhile, the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained half a point, or 0.02%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched down 20 points, or 0.21%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.08% to $1,222.00 a troy ounce, while crude oil futures increased 0.39% to $67.20 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.12% to 95.06.