Stocks close slightly higher on earnings reports
The Dow closed up 4 points, and the S&P 500 gained 1 on Monday. The Nasdaq was down 11 points at the close.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Global stocks fell Wednesday, Aug. 17, in a downbeat appraisal of a Franco-German summit that failed to persuade investors that a convincing fix to the eurozone's spiraling debt crisis was imminent.
Richard Drew / AP
NEW YORK
U.S. stocks have closed slightly higher after companies reported earnings above expectations but gave mixed forecasts for the rest of this year.
The Dow Jones industrial average is up 4 points to 11,410. The S&P 500 is up 1, or 0.1 percent, to. 1,194 The Nasdaq is down 11, or 0.5 percent, to 2,511.
Target, Staples, Dell and others reported earnings for last quarter that were above analysts' forecasts. Companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 are on track to report higher profits for a ninth straight quarter. But economic growth is weak, and corporate cost pressures are rising. That could pull down earnings.
Target and Staples both gave profit forecasts that were above Wall Street's expectations, but Dell cut its prediction for revenue growth this year.