U.S. stocks open mixed on earnings reports

NEW YORK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened mixed on Friday as investors were sifting through a string of strong corporate earnings.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 17.72 points, or 0.07 percent, to 24,304.62. The S&P 500 increased 4.33 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,671.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 41.02 points, or 0.58 percent, to 7,159.69.

U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon reported first-quarter earnings and revenue way above market expectations after the closing bell on Thursday. Shares of the company surged over 6 percent in morning session on Friday.

Microsoft also posted better-than-forecast earnings, sending its stock more than 2 percent higher.

So far, the earnings season has been overall positive. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported, 79.4 percent have posted better-than-forecast earnings, according to latest data from U.S. research firm FactSet.

On the U.S. economic front, gross domestic product(GDP) increased at a 2.3 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said in its snapshot of first-quarter GDP on Friday, beating market consensus of a 2-percent gain. Enditem