Investing.com – Wall Street saw choppy trade, remaining mostly flat on Thursday, as if unconvinced by gains in Europe on the back of the Bank of England’s (BoE) decision to shoot a wave of stimulus into the British economy in an attempt to head off the doldrums caused by the decision to leave the European Union.
At 15:34GMT, or 11:34AM ET, the Dow 30 gave up 8 points, or 0.04%, the S&P 500 inched up 1 point, or 0.05%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 6 points or 0.11%.
Though the BoE cut rates to a new record low of 0.25% for the first time in more than seven years in a widely expected move, the British monetary authority followed through with a package of other measures designed to head off a recession in the U.K. economy.
London’s FTSE 100 surged 1.5% on the news as the rest of Europe followed with solid gains and the pound sank more than 1% against the dollar.
Yet, U.S. equities were unmoved as investors appeared to be preparing for the publication stateside on Friday of the Employment Report for July.
On Thursday’s economic calendar, the labor market continued to firm despite a slight, unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims.
In the meantime, factory orders gave a “positive” surprise as they fell in June less than had been expected.
In company news, investors received mixed results in what would be one of the last big blasts in the second quarter earnings season.
Among major movers, Square (NYSE:SQ) soared more than 13% after it reported a 41.5% jump in revenue and diminishing losses after Wednesday's closing bell, as more large merchants make sales using the mobile payments firm’s technology.
Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY) surged almost 12% after the seller of web addresses posted a narrower quarterly loss on a revenue jump.
Shares of Jack In The Box Inc (NASDAQ:JACK) spiked more than 10% following its earnings beat.
On the downside, TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) plunged close to 9% after the company's second-quarter earnings miss, as hotel revenue fell.
Time Inc (NYSE:TIME) tumbled close to 6% on a revenue miss.
AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AMCX) shed more than 4% after missing on profit.
Earnings would continue to be under the microscope after Thursday’s close with Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN), LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), Motorola (NYSE:MSI), Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC), El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LOCO), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE:LGF), Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:Z), Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), and Weight Watchers (NYSE:WTW) among the companies set to report.
Meanwhile, oil wavered between losses and gains on Thursday with West Texas managing to break back through $41 in U.S. midday trade.
That came after a 3% surge on Wednesday when data showed that gasoline supplies in the U.S. fell sharply last week, offsetting a surprise build in crude stockpiles.
U.S. crude futures traded up 1.42% to $41.41 by 15:36GMT, or 11:36AM ET, while Brent oil gained 0.86% to $43.47.