US open: Stocks little changed as investors sift through earnings

US stocks flitted between small gains and losses on Friday as investors sifted through a raft of corporate news.

At 1500 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both flat, while the Nasdaq was up 0.1%.

At the same time, oil prices were in the red. West Texas Intermediate was down 1.1% to $44.27 a barrel while Brent crude was 0.9% lower at $45.77.

It was a busy day for corporate news. General Electric rocketed after it reported earnings of 51 cents per share for the second quarter, up nearly 65% on the year earlier and ahead of estimates.

Coffee shop chain Starbucks was just a touch higher despite its third-quarter revenue released late on Thursday falling short of analysts’ expectations.

Whirlpool pushed up after posting better-than-expected net profit for the second quarter, but Honeywell slid after its second-quarter earnings beat estimates but sales missed.

Chipotle Mexican Grill was a little firmer despite reporting an 82% decline in second-quarter profit on Thursday.

Advanced Micro Devices surged after saying it swung to a profit in the second quarter and reported its first sales increase in nearly two years.

On the data front, Markit’s flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to an eight-month high of 52.9 in July from 51.3 in June.

This was ahead of expectations for a reading of 51.6, led by a robust expansion of incoming new work and the fastest upturn in production volumes for eight months.

Chief economist Chris Williamson said: “July saw manufacturers battle against a strong dollar, the ongoing energy sector downturn and political uncertainty ahead of the presidential election, yet still achieved the best growth seen since last year.

“It remains too early to say if this is the start of a stronger upturn, but this is a welcome and encouraging sign of revival after the second quarter, in which the PMI signalled the sector’s worst performance for over six years.”

Next week, the focus will be on the Federal Open Market Committee’s rate announcement on Wednesday. HSBC expects the Fed to leave the target range for the federal funds rate unchanged at 0.25% to 0.50%.

“We expect the July policy statement will be amended to reflect the latest monthly data showing a strong rebound in employment gains,” the bank said. "However, we expect that the forward guidance elements of the statement will be unchanged, with the Committee continuing to expect ‘gradual adjustments’ in the stance of monetary policy.”