Stocks Turn Higher Amid Earnings Flood

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U.S. equity markets flipped into positive territory on Thursday as traders parsed through quarterly earnings from a slew of big-name players.

Today's Markets

As of 11:04 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 19.4 points, or 0.12%, to 16406, the S&P 500 dipped 2.1 points, or 0.11%, to 1860 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 13.6 points, or 0.34%, to 4072.

Earnings season is kicking into high gear, meaning corporate news has stolen the Street's attention.

IBM (NYSE:IBM), one of the world's biggest technology companies, saw its quarterly revenues take a worse-than-expected slump to a five-year low. Shares of Big Blue fell more than 4%, and are expected to weight on the Dow. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), the biggest U.S. investment bank, revealed a big beat on the top and bottom lines.

Search giant Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) weighed in with a quarterly miss, sending its shares slumping more than 2%.

Looking elsewhere in the finance sector, credit card behemoth American Express (NYSE:AXP) revealed better-than-expected profits, but disappointing revenues. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), the No. 2 U.S. investment bank, meanwhile, unveiled a solid quarterly beat.

General Electric (NYSE:GE), the diversified conglomerate, posted mixed results, while chemicals maker DuPont (NYSE:DD) logged a big miss on the top line coupled with a match on the bottom line. Health insurance giant UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) notched slightly stronger-than-expected profits on rising membership.

On the economic front, the Labor Department said the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose to 304,000 last week from an upwardly revised 302,000 the week prior. Wall Street was expecting the number of claims to rise to 315,000 from an initially reported 300,000.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s gauge of manufacturing activity rose to 16.6 in April from 9 in March, far surpassing Wall Street estimates for a reading of 10. Readings above 0 point to expansion, while those below indicate contraction.

Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures fell 2 cents, or 0.02%, to $103.75 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.22% to $3.033 a gallon. Gold rose 50 cents, or 0.04%, to $1,304 a troy ounce.