Investing.com - Wall Street registered gains nearing midday trade on Thursday as positive earnings from Twitter and Ford supported equities
At 11:22AM ET (15:22GMT), the Dow Jones rose 75 points, or 0.32%, the S&P 500 gained 6 point, or 0.24%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 6 points, or 0.09%.
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) soared nearly 15% after its third quarter results came in higher than expected and the social media firm suggested it could register profit for the first time ever.
Ford (NYSE:F) tacked on gains of around 1% as the automaker beat on both the top and bottom line.
In a big move to the downside, Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) sank around 16% after the pharmaceutical firm cut its long-term financial guidance.
After the close on Thursday, major tech earnings will arrive from the likes of Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Economic releases gave mixed news on Thursday as jobless claims rose less than expected last week, continuing to show signs of the strong U.S. labor market.
Pending home sales were unchanged in September, as home buyers faced difficulties in finding affordable supply.
Speculation over who U.S. President Donald Trump would choose to be the next Federal Reserve chief continued on Thursday with the latest report suggesting that current Fed chief Janet Yellen would not be reappointed with Trump trying to decide now between Fed Governor Jerome Powell and Stanford University economist John Taylor.
However, another source in the same Politico report Politico said it was not safe to assume Trump will nominate Powell or Taylor for the top spot at the central bank, saying he "changes his mind about it every day."
Meanwhile, oil prices extended gains on Thursday, up nearly 2% on the week.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.44% to $52.41 by 11:23AM ET (15:23GMT), while Brent oil traded up 0.24% to $58.58.