U.S. stocks decline amid earnings, economic data

NEW YORK, April 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning session on Thursday as Wall Street pondered over a batch of earnings reports amid economic data.

Around midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 44.62 points, or 0.18 percent, to 24,703.45. The S&P 500 decreased 13.61 points, or 0.50 percent, to 2,703.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 45.62 points, or 0.63 percent, to 7,249.61.

After Wednesday's closing bell, American Express reported first-quarter net income of 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 31 percent from 1.3 billion dollars a year ago, and its diluted earnings per share was 1.86 dollars, up 38 percent from 1.35 dollars per share a year ago.

Following the release of the better-than-expected quarterly earnings, shares of the U.S. credit-card company jumped over 7 percent around midday Thursday.

Shares of Philip Morris International plunged more than 15 percent around noon after the tobacco giant posted quarterly revenue that missed market expectations.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2018 are expected to rise by 19.4 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase by 7.5 percent.

On the economic front, in the week ending April 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 231,250, an increase of 1,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 230,000.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's business-conditions index edged up 1 point from the March reading to 23.2 in April, beating market estimates. Enditem