Wall Street Wavers Amid Earnings Deluge

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U.S. equity markets zigzagged on Thursday as traders parsed through a slew of corporate earnings news.

Today's Markets

As of 2:16 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.6 points, or 0.05%, to 16492, the S&P 500 gained 2 points, or 0.11%, to 1877 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 16.7 points, or 0.4%, to 4143.

The heavy selloff on the Nasdaq two weeks ago seems quaint now as the index rebounds. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the world's biggest tech company, posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results and boosted its dividend. Its shares jumped more than 7%, and are likely to help send the Nasdaq sharply higher. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), the world's biggest social network, also weighed in with a beat.

Looking at Dow components, Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) revealed a big quarterly beat. Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) logged mixed results, and 3M (NYSE:MMM) missed views.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS), the shipping giant that is also seen as an economic bellwether, posted a quarterly miss, blaming "unusually harsh weather."

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Visa (NYSE:V) and a slew of other big companies are set to report after the closing bell.

Traders also got a duo of economic reports.

The Commerce Department said orders for long-lasting goods rose 2.6% in March, the largest increase since November 2013, more than the 2% increase Wall Street expected. Excluding the transportation component, orders rose 2%, the largest increase since January 2013, and more than the 0.6% rise anticipated.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported the number of Americans filing for first-time jobless benefits rose to 329,000 last week from an upwardly revised 305,000 the week prior. Wall Street expected claims to rise to 310,000 from an initially reported 304,000.