U.S. stocks open mixed amid earnings, Greece talks
Xinhua, April 24, 2015 Adjust font size:
U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, as investors boosted major earnings reports and assessed developments in Greece debt talks.
The Nasdaq Composite Index outperformed the other major indices on Thursday to set a new closing record for the first time in 15 years, as investors sifted through a heavy day of earnings and economic data.
Amazon shares skyrocketed 15.89 percent to 451.95 U.S. dollars per share in the early session after the e-commerce giant's revenue came in above estimates. The company' s net sales increased 15 percent to 22.72 billion dollars in the first quarter, compared with 19.74 billion dollars in the first quarter 2014.
Google' s shares jumped around 4 percent in early Friday after reported financial results for the first quarter on Thursday. The company' s first quarter revenue was 17.3 billion dollars, up 12 percent year on year.
Microsoft announced Thursday after the bell that revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, grew to 21.7 billion dollars, topped Wall Street estimates. The software giant's diluted earnings per share for the quarter were 61 cents per share. Shares spiked over 6 percent in the early trading.
On economic front, new orders for manufactured durable goods in March increased 4.0 percent to 240.2 billion dollars, according to U.S Commerce Department Friday.
Traders paid attention on Greece talks as well. Greece is willing to make compromises to reach a deal on its debt, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Friday after tense talks with his euro zone peers on such issue.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 18.12 points, or 0.10 percent, to 18,040.57. The S&P 500 gained 2.69 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,115.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index soared 31.70 points, or 0.63 percent, to 5,087.76. Endi