Investing.com - Wall Street was mixed on Thursday amid earnings results as Facebook led technology stocks and DowDuPont slumped after it’s revenue came in lower than expected. Meanwhile, jobless claims jumped to a one-and-a-half-year high.
The S&P 500 fell 0.5 point, or 0.01%, as of 9:30 AM ET (14:30 GMT), while the Dow lost 60 points, or 0.24%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 32 points, or 0.45%.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) jumped 10% after it reported better-than-expected figures on Wednesday, despite being plagued with scandals and calls for boycotts over privacy and other ethical concerns.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 1.7% after mixed earnings, while DowDuPont (NYSE:DWDP) slumped 8% after its revenue missed expectations and PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) slipped 4.8% after missing sales estimates for the first time since 2015.
Elsewhere, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 4% after mixed earnings and news that its chief financial officer is leaving the company.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 0.8% ahead of its earnings results after the closing bell.
Meanwhile, the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. posted its sharpest rise since September 2017, raising concerns over the health of the economy.
Investors are also waiting for news of the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks which conclude on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval office later in the day but no deal is expected before Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In commodities, gold futures jumped 1% to $1,328.80 a troy ounce and crude oil increased 1% to $54.78 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 95.03.