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U.S. stocks trade mixed amid earnings, data

Xinhua, January 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks traded in mixed territory midday Friday after a choppy morning session, as investors were considering fourth-quarter earnings following the prior day's big rally.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 54.59 points, or 0.31 percent, to 17,759.39. The S&P 500 fell 4.22 points, or 0.20 percent, to 2,058.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 8.92 points, or 0.19 percent, to 4,759.32.

The three benchmark indices on Thursday extended their winning streak into a fourth straight day, propelling the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index back to slightly positive territory for the year, as investors cheered the European Central Bank's (ECB's) bigger-than-expected quantitative easing (QE) program.

The ECB announced Thursday that they would start quantitative easing by purchasing public and private securities with a monthly amount of 60 billion euros through September 2016 in a bid to address prolonged low inflation.

The size of the QE program topped market expectations of a 50- billion-euro monthly purchasing program.

However, investors were assessing if the ECB-inspired surge was too much and shifted their focus to fourth-quarter corporate earnings.

General Electric said Friday its fourth quarter industrial segment profit rose 9 percent, while its quarterly revenues jumped 4 percent to 42.0 billion U.S. dollars. The company's shares gained 1.81 percent to trade at 24.72 dollars per share at noon.

United Parcel Service shares plunged 9.48 percent to trade at 103.42 dollars apiece midday, after the company posted lower-than- expected earnings outlook for the fourth quarter.

On the economic front, January data pointed to a further upturn in business conditions across the U.S. manufacturing sector, but the overall rate of improvement eased further from last August's peak, said financial data firm Markit on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index edged down from 53.9 in December to 53. 7 in January, Markit said.

U.S. existing-home sales bounced back in December despite low inventory conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors. Total existing-home sales rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units in December from a downwardly-revised 4.92 million in November. Endite