MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Edge Higher As Wall Street Absorbs Earnings Deluge

American Airlines shares drop after carrier increases wages

U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday, as investors digested a wave of mostly upbeat corporate results, a day after the White House released an outline of President Trump's eagerly awaited tax plan.

The S&P 500 index was up 3 points, or 0.1%, to 2,390, with seven of the 11 main sectors trading higher. However, a sharp drop in oil prices weighed on energy shares, limiting gains for the index.

The Nasdaq Composite Index set an intraday high in early trade, after gaining 22 points, or 0.4%, to 6,041.6.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 23 points, or 0.1%, to 21,000.

Tepid gains come after a choppy session on Wednesday, when markets closed marginally lower as traders weighed the tax proposal (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-rally-poised-to-stall-as-investors-wait-for-trumps-big-tax-plan-2017-04-26) from Trump's administration.

Analysts said the Trump administration's tax proposal was light on detail and failed to address the question of how its tax cuts would be funded. One key proposal is to lower the corporate tax rate to 15% from 35%, with the aim of making U.S. companies more competitive internationally.

"Investors are anxious for details of the tax plan. They are also concerned about the shift from monetary to fiscal accommodation," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at the Private Client Reserve, U.S. Bank.

Wiegand also said that this earnings season has been fascinating.

"Year-over-year improvement in earnings growth is tremendous, driving markets higher," he said.

Read:Markets got what was broadly expected from tax plan: a starting point (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/markets-got-what-was-broadly-expected-from-tax-plan-a-starting-point-2017-04-26)

Opinion:Trump's tax plan sets the stage for Dow 30,000 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-tax-plan-sets-the-stage-for-dow-30000-2017-04-26)

Earnings deluge: In Thursday's trade, investors were back to focusing on corporate earnings with a long list of companies reporting.

Shares of Southwest Airlines Co.(LUV) slid 3% after the carrier reported earnings below expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/southwest-airlines-stock-falls-after-earnings-miss-expectations-2017-04-27).

Ford Motor Co.(F) fell 1% even after the car giant's earnings and revenue topped Wall Street forecasts.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.(BMY) also beat forecasts, sending the shares 2.7% higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bristol-myers-squibb-stock-surges-3-after-first-quarter-profit-revenue-beats-2017-04-27).

Dow Chemical Co.(DOW) shares slumped 2% even after earnings came in ahead of expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-chemical-shares-rise-14-premarket-as-company-beats-profit-and-revenue-estimates-2017-04-27).

Shares of Under Armour Inc.(UAA) soared 9% after the athletic apparel reported a loss for the first quarter, but it was smaller than expected (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/under-armour-shares-soar-after-earnings-beat-2017-04-27).

American Airlines Group Inc.(AAL) shares slumped 8% after the air carrier reported first-quarter results, and announced a pay increase for crew members.

Domino's Pizza Inc.(DPZ) shares rose 2.3% after the pizza maker beat estimates.

After the market closes, earnings from Google parent Alphabet Inc.(GOOGL) (GOOGL), Microsoft Corp.(MSFT), Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) and Starbucks Corp.(SBUX) are on tap.

Read:The $2 trillion earnings day: Google, Amazon and Microsoft top frenzy of reports (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-2-trillion-earnings-day-google-amazon-and-microsoft-top-frenzy-of-reports-2017-04-26)

Stock movers: Shares of PayPal Holdings Inc.(PYPL) rallied 5.6% before the bell after the online-payments company late Wednesday beat earnings expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/paypal-earnings-beat-stock-buyback-send-stock-to-record-levels-2017-04-26) and announced a $5 billion stock-repurchase plan.

H&R Block Inc.(HRB) and Intuit Inc.(INTU) extended gains, after rallying in the extended session Wednesday after earnings reports.

Read:H&R Block, Intuit reassure investors after Trump's tax announcement (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hr-block-intuit-reassure-investors-after-trumps-tax-announcement-2017-04-26)

Economic docket:Initial jobless claims (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-jump-to-one-month-high-of-257000-2017-04-27) jumped by 14,000 to 257,000, a one-month high, though the increase appeared largely concentrated in New York state.

The trade gap in goods--services are excluded (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-trade-deficit-widens-in-march-2017-04-27)--widened to $64.8 billion in March from $63.9 billion in February.

New orders for U.S. durable goods (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/durable-goods-orders-rise-07-in-march-to-mark-third-gain-in-a-row-2017-04-27) rose 0.7% in March to mark the third straight gain, though demand was inflated by new bookings for fighter planes and passenger aircraft.

Central banks in focus: Earlier Thursday, the Bank of Japan as expected left its ultra-accommodative monetary policy unchanged (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-japan-leaves-rates-unchanged-says-inflation-is-lagging-2017-04-26) and offered a more upbeat tone on the country's economy.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank kept its monetary policy unchanged (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ecb-leaves-rates-unchanged-reiterates-asset-purchase-plans-2017-04-27) and re-emphasized that it could increase the size or lengthen the duration of its EUR60 billion-euros-a-month asset-purchase program if inflation looks set to fall back below its target of near but just below 2%.

Check out:ECB live blog: Mario Draghi sees diminished downside risks (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2017/04/27/ecb-live-blog-mario-draghi-expected-to-avoid-taper-talk/)

Other markets: The Mexican peso and Canadian dollar advanced against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, after the Trump administration backed away from threats to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-backs-off-threats-promises-us-will-stay-in-nafta-2017-04-26).

Stocks in Asia ended mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-pull-back-ahead-of-boj-rate-announcement-2017-04-26) as investors digested Trump's tax plan. European stocks held on to modest losses (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-snap-winning-streak-with-ebc-on-deck-2017-04-27) after the ECB announcement. Oil prices dropped 2%, with crude oil moving further below the $50 mark.

Gold was flat, while the ICE Dollar Index edged 0.2% higher to 99.256. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond was unchanged at 2.31%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2017 10:42 ET (14:42 GMT)