Investing.com – Wall Street traded mixed and flat with the Dow Jones under earnings pressure as investors continued to digest the numbers from second-quarter earnings and data released Thursday with an eye looking ahead to next week’s monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve (Fed).
At 15:00GMT, or 11:00AM ET, the Dow 30 slipped 10 points, or 0.05%, the S&P 500 edged forward 1 point, or 0.04%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 5 points, or 0.10%.
As the second-quarter reporting season continues to roll on, the Dow was clearly pressured on Thursday with the top three decliners having disappointed investors.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) lead the losses on the blue-chip index after reporting slower revenue growth at its data center business.
American Express (NYSE:AXP) followed in the second worst slot after the credit card company reported mixed earnings.
The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was under pressure after reporting a 19% slide in second quarter earnings.
Outside the Dow, not all the earnings news was negative with eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) notably surging more than 10% on a sharp rise in sales.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Blackstone (NYSE:BX) were also up more than 3% on their own earnings report.
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), AT&T (NYSE:T), Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG), Visa Inc (NYSE:V) and PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) were some of the names set to release numbers after the close.
U.S. equities have been boosted in recent sessions amid indications the U.S. corporate earnings season may be less dour than feared. According to Thomson Reuters, 67% of the 70 S&P 500 companies reporting so far beat earnings estimates.
Furthermore, second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are now expected to fall by 3.8%, less than the 4.7% decline estimated before the reporting season began, according to Thomson Reuters.
Amid the deluge of data released on Thursday, weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell, adding to hope for a continuation of improvements in the labor market at the beginning of the third quarter.
In other good news, existing home sales unexpectedly rose in June, bolstering optimism over the health of the housing market.
On the downside, manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia-region registered a surprise deterioration in July, according to a report from the Philly Fed.
In other reports with less market impact, the Conference Board’s June index of leading economic indicators and the Chicago national activity index for the same month came out above forecasts, though the FHFA home price index for May rose less than expected.
In oil markets, crude turned lower on Thursday amid ongoing concerns over a global supply glut.
According to market experts, elevated stocks of fuel products amid slowing demand growth is expected to keep prices under pressure in the near-term.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.544% to $45.55 a barrel by 15:01GMT or 11:01AM ET, while Brent oil lost 0.32% to $47.02.
In currency markets, the dollar was mostly flat against major rivals as markets continued to digest economic reports ahead of the Federal Reserve monetary policy decision on July 27.
Financial markets had begun to see a minimal probability of a rate hike at the meeting with odds of just 2.4% on Thursday. Fed fund futures now see a higher likelihood of policy tightening in December with the odds at 51.5% for an increase at the end of the year.
USD/JPY went on a wild ride during Thursday’s session breaking below 106 on news that Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda had dismissed the possibility of using helicopter money. However, the pair pared losses as BBC clarified that the interview aired on Thursday was from the middle of June.
The euro had gained some strength on the back of the relatively positive outlook from European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi. The ECB held steady on monetary policy on Thursday.
However, EUR/USD moved back to levels seen before Draghi’s press conference and the initial monetary policy announcement.