By Anora Mahmudova and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks opened tentatively higher
Friday, putting the main benchmarks on track to finish the week
roughly where they started it.
Investors assessed mixed earnings reports from companies such as
General Electric Company and Google Inc. and implications of a
deadly Malaysia Airlines jet crash in Ukraine that triggered a
selloff in equities on Thursday.
The S&P 500 (SPX) rose 7.2 points, or 0.4%, to 1,965.34. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) added 51.50 points, or 0.3%, to
17,027.64. The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) gained 26 points, or 0.6%,
to 4,388.73.
Equities on Thursday were rattled by news that 298 passengers
were killed in a Malaysia Airlines crash in eastern Ukraine, where
fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops has
been going on for months.
U.S. intelligence officials said the jet was shot down by a
surface-to-air missile. Ukraine and some Western officials have
blamed pro-Russia separatists for the attack, while Russia's
President Vladimir Putin says the fault lies with Ukraine's
government. Read: Tensions grow as Putin, Western officials trade
blame over jet crash
Meanwhile, Israel on Thursday night launched an open-ended
ground invasion of Gaza aimed at crushing Hamas militants after 10
days of aerial bombardment.
Even after Thursday's events in Ukraine, it isn't easy to decide
to sell U.S. stocks, wrote Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist
at ConvergEx Group in a note.
More has to go wrong, such as earnings quality for companies
deteriorating and oil prices trending higher to threaten the
"fragile economic recoveries in the U.S. and Europe," he said.
Investors will also get a look at developments in the U.S.
economy on Friday. A gauge of consumer sentiment could show an
improved outlook, aided by strengthening in the labor market. The
gauge from the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters is likely
to rise to 83, from a final June level of 82.5. It's set for
release at 9:55 a.m. Eastern Time.
Then at 10 a.m. Eastern, the Conference Board will release its
June leading-economic index report. Economists polled by Dow Jones
Newswires expect a gain, which would signal the economy will
continue to expand. The LEI in May rose 0.5%.
Shares of General Electric (GE) gave up premarket gains and were
0.3% lower after the industrial conglomerate's second-quarter
earnings met Wall Street's projection. GE also said it's targeting
the IPO of its Synchrony Financial business for the end of
July.
Google (GOOG) shares rallied 3%, after the Internet company late
Thursday posted second-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street's
expectation.
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) tumbled 18% after
the chip maker's second-quarter adjusted earnings missed analysts'
projections. For more on today's notable movers, read our regular
Movers and Shakers column.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Average fell 1% as investors sought the
perceived safety of the Japanese yen. But the U.S. dollar (USDJPY)
eventually pared its losses against the yen. European stocks slid
on the geopolitical tensions, and Russia's MICEX dropped 2.1%.
In the commodities market, gold futures (GCQ4) fell $9.5 to
$1,307 an ounce. August crude futures (CLQ4) fell 30 cents to
$102.88 a barrel.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
MH17 crash: Second black box retrieved by emergency crew
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