U.S. stocks trade higher after earnings reports
Xinhua,January 26, 2018 Adjust font size:
NEW YORK, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded higher on Thursday as corporate earnings reports came out overall positive.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 108.33 points, or 0.41 percent, to 26,360.45. The S&P 500 increased 3.42 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,840.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 14.00 points, or 0.19 percent, to 7,429.06.
U.S. construction machinery and equipment company Caterpillar said on Thursday that its fourth-quarter adjusted profit was 2.16 U.S. dollars a share, topping Wall Street forecasts of 1.77 dollars a share.
The Caterpillar stock rose 4 percent in pre-market trading before slipping 2 percent in the midday session.
U.S. manufacturing company 3M on Thursday also reported earnings and revenue that beat market expectations. Shares of 3M rose 2.4 percent in the midday session.
As of Thursday, 77 percent of the S&P 500 companies that had reported surpassed earnings expectations, while 79 percent of those companies had beaten sales estimates, according to U.S. financial information company FactSet. Enditem