U.S. stocks open lower amid earnings, economic data

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

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 4 percent in the early trading Thursday.

Shares of Philip Morris International plunged more than 10 percent after the tobacco giant posted quarterly revenue that missed market expectations.

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.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30.79 points, or 0.12 percent, to 24,717.28. The S&P 500 decreased 6.22 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,702.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 30.41 points, or 0.42 percent, to 7,264.83. Enditem