Roundup: U.S. stocks waver amid earnings, data

U.S. stocks wavered and closed mixed this week, as investors mainly digested mixed corporate earnings and economic reports.

For the week, the Dow edged up 0.1 percent, and the S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent, while the Nasdaq decreased 1.3 percent.

In corporate news, after Thursday's closing bell, Amazon.com, Inc. announced a net income of 252 million U.S. dollars for the third quarter of 2016, or 0.52 dollar per diluted share, compared with 79 million dollars, or 0.17 dollar per diluted share, in third quarter of 2015.

Following the release of the weaker-than-expected quarterly results, the e-commerce giant's shares slumped 5.14 percent to 776.32 dollars apiece Friday.

Shares of Exxon Mobil declined 2.46 percent to 84.78 dollars apiece after the U.S. oil company reported a 38-percent drop in quarterly profit.

United Parcel Service (UPS) Inc. said on Thursday that it earned 1.27 billion U.S. dollars in third quarter, up 1 percent from a year earlier, while its revenue rose 4.9 percent to 14.93 billion U.S. dollars, beating Wall Street expectations.

Shares of the U.S. package-delivery giant, however, fell 0.49 percent to 108.08 dollars apiece after the release.

Shares of Ford Motor Co. decreased 1.18 percent Thursday to 11.74 dollars apiece after the auto maker' s third-quarter profit dropped 56 percent.

After Tuesday's closing bell, Apple Inc. reported that its sales of smartphones, tablet computers and personal computers were down in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2016 compared with the same period a year ago.

The tech giant announced quarterly revenues of 46.9 billion U.S. dollars and quarterly net income of 9 billion dollars, down from 51.5 billion dollars and 11.1 billion dollars respectively from the same quarter last year.

Its shares dropped 2.25 percent to 115.59 dollars apiece Wednesday after the release.

Shares of Coca-Cola Co. inched down 0.60 percent to 144.47 dollars apiece Wednesday after the soft drink giant reported third-quarter revenues slightly better than expected.

Shares of Whirlpool Corp. sank 10.78 percent to 152.09 U.S. dollars apiece Tuesday after the U.S. appliance maker reported worse-than-expected quarterly results and issued a downbeat outlook.

Merck & Co., Inc. rose 1.98 percent to 61.95 dollars apiece Tuesday after the drug maker posted third-quarter earnings report that beat market estimates.

Shares of Procter & Gamble jumped 3.41 percent to 86.97 dollars apiece Tuesday following the release of the consumer goods giant's better-than-expected quarterly results.

Shares of Caterpillar Inc. dipped 1.76 percent to 84.48 dollars apiece Tuesday as the construction and mining equipment maker lowering its full-year revenue outlook for the second time.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters on Friday showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the third quarter of 2016 are expected to rise 3.0 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 2.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Wall Street also meditated on the news of the country's stronger-than-expected third-quarter economic growth and some others economic reports.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the third quarter of 2016, beating market consensus of 2.5 percent, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Commerce Department Friday. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 1.4 percent.

The acceleration in real GDP growth in the third quarter reflected an upturn in private inventory investment, an acceleration in exports, a smaller decrease in the state and local government spending, and an upturn in the federal government spending, the department said.

"When the FOMC meets next week, this report will be fresh in their minds. They are likely to see it as vindication of their forecast and further reason to raise rates, despite the eroding trend still evident in the year-on-year figures," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

In other economic news, in the week ending October 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 258,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. The latest reading was higher than market consensus of 255,000.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday that new orders for U.S. manufactured capital goods unexpectedly fell 1.2 percent in September after three straight months of strong gains.

"Shipments of nondefense capital goods ex-aircraft shipments, which feed directly into GDP calculations, fell at a 4.4% annualized rate in Q3, suggesting soft business investment is likely to weigh on growth in Q3, as it did in the first half," said Chris Low and Sophia Kearney-Lederman, economists at FTN Financial, in a joint note.

In a separate report, the department announced Wednesday that U.S. sales of new single-family houses in September 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000. This is 3.1 percent above the revised August rate and is 29.8 percent above the September 2015 estimate.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index declined from 103.5 in September to 98.6 in October, missing market consensus.

Adjusted for seasonal influences, the Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rebounded from a three-month low of 51.5 in September to 53.2 in October, beating market consensus of 51.2. Enditem