Stocks rose Thursday after the latest crop of corporate earnings came in better than previously feared.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave up much of its early-morning gains, but remained positive 53.53 points at 34,002.54.
The S&P 500 nicked higher 4.97 points to 4,122.79.
The NASDAQ Composite hung onto gains of 17.53 points to 11,928.05.
Disney shares gained more than 2% after the company posted smaller-than-expected subscriber losses at its streaming service along with earnings and revenue that beat analyst estimates. CEO Bob Iger told the media Thursday that he was only expecting to stay in the role for two years, while activist investor Nelson Peltz said he was ending a proxy battle after the company unveiled a restructuring plan that included 7,000 layoffs and a reorganization of its divisions.
PepsiCo advanced more than 1% on the back of fourth-quarter earnings that came in above Wall Street expectations.
Investors have been watching earnings season closely for insight on how companies have fared amid high inflation and how how they expect to perform going forward. But despite the latest batch of company reports, Wall Street has considered this earnings season lackluster.
Nearly 70% of the approximately two-thirds of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten analyst expectations. That beat rate is below a three-year average of 79%.
PayPal, Lyft and Expedia will report after the market closes.
The number of weekly jobless claims reported Thursday jumped by 13,000 to 196,000, which is more than expected and ran contrary to a recent string of job data indicating the labour market remained stubbornly hot. Treasury yields fell after the data as investors bet that maybe the job market would cool enough for the Fed to slow its hiking campaign further.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury galloped, lowering yields to 3.59% from Wednesday's 3.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 74 cents to $77.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices backtracked $6.70 to $1,884.00 U.S. an ounce.