- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- US Job Losses to Bottom out Next Quarter: NABE
- Little Sign of Inflation on the Horizon: IMF
- Kraft Weighs Higher Cadbury Bid as Rivals Circle
- MBS Program Should be Extended: Fed's Bullard
- JPMorgan's Dimon Could Succeed Geithner: Report
- Wall Street Finds Profits by Reducing Mortgages
- Warren Buffett, Bill Gates 'Walk & Talk' At Columbia
- Microsoft, News Corp Weigh Online News Pact
- CNBC VIDEO: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates 'Walk & Talk' at Columbia University
- U.S. Stocks Slip, Dollar Rises
- How Stock Investors Can Play Holiday Travel
- Time Lapse World Series Is A Great Play
- Hirschhorn: Greed...or Fear
- My Top 10 Tech Toys for the Holidays
- iPhone a Better Gaming Platform Than Android?
- May Day For Dendreon
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
Text Size 
Stocks were mixed Thursday as investors weighed a disappointing jobless-claims report and some encouraging earnings reports.
The Dow turned higher after a report showed leading economic indicators rose.
An index of leading economic indicators rose 1 percent in September, a two-year high and more than the 0.8-percent expected.
Jobless claims rose 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 531,000 last week, more than expected. And the previous week was also revised higher by 6,000.
Dow components Travelers, McDonald's and MMM advanced after their earnings reports; Merck was at the bottom of the pack.
McDonald's [MCD
Loading...
()
] topped forecasts and said it expects same-store sales to remain positive in October.
Travelers [TRV
Loading...
()
] reported its profit more than quadrupled, handily beating expectations, and raised its full-year forecast.
AT&T [T
Loading...
()
] beat expectations, helped by the iPhone, but revenue slipped from a year earlier.
Merck [MRK
Loading...
()
] said its net tripled in the quarter, helped by stronger sales and the sale of its animal-health business, which was required for its purchase of Schering-Plough. That acquisition is going to catapult Merck from the No. 8 drugmaker to No. 2.
More upbeat earnings reports after the bell late Wednesday from eBay [EBAY
Loading...
()
] and Amgen, [AMGN
Loading...
()
] both of which saw earnings beat Wall Street estimates.
After the bell today, we'll get reports from Amazon, American Express, Broadcom and Capital One, among others.
Microsoft shares [MSFT
Loading...
()
] skidded as the software giant releases its Windows 7 operating system today and opens its first retail store — in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Analysts said the new operating system may help jump-start corporate spending, but for some computer makers, it may not be until the second half of next year.
New York Fed President William Dudley speaks at a conference at 1:30 pm ET. At 4:30 pm, the Fed will release its monthly balance sheet update.
Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg will appear before the House Oversight Committee in a hearing that begins at 11 am. On Wednesday, we learned that Feinberg will mandate that top executives at bailed-out companies have their 2009 salaries cut by up to 90 percent, with total compensation cut by up to 50 percent.
Other factors are waylaying the stock market's recent advances—ranging from Walmart's [WMT
Loading...
()
] price cuts to analyst Richard Bove's downgrade of Wells Fargo [WFC
Loading...
()
] to rising oil prices.
The weak dollar bears watching once again Thursday, after the euro rose above the psychological $1.50 mark Wednesday.
- Peter Schacknow contributed to this article.
Still to Come:
THURSDAY: Weekly jobless claims; leading indicators; Fed's Rosengren, Lockhart and Dudley speak; Earnings from AT&T, Bristol-Myers, McDonald's, Merck, MMM, Travelers, UPS, Schering-Plough, Xerox, Amazon, AmEx, Braodcom and Capital One
FRIDAY: Fed chief Bernanke speaks; existing-home sales; Fed's Kohn speaks; Earnings from Microsoft, Honeywell and Ingersoll-Rand
Send comments to .
- Technology can make or break a fortune in the world of alternative energy.
- Warren Buffett and Bill Gates discuss the economy and other subjects with CNBC's Becky Quick.
- Many people are facing the holidays with substantially smaller incomes. Here’s how some are adapting.
- The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show attracts a big TV audience every year, but this year it may take on even more importance.
- Jim Cramer is a proponent of stocks that pay healthy dividends, and here are his top five dividend plays.
- CNBC’s technology reporter Jim Goldman guides you through the best gadgets to buy this holiday season.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes