Investors Weigh Earnings

Stocks held steady Friday morning amid profit reports from a trio of blue-chip companies that all beat Wall Street's expectations, the latest installment in an earnings season that has been pleasantly surprising overall.

Major indexes were little changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 11 points, or 0.1%, at 8723.15, its losses capped by a 3.2% rise in IBM after it reported a second-quarter profit that rose 12% from a year ago.

Market Data Center >

• Most Actives | Gainers | Losers
• New Highs and Lows | Money Flows
• Intraday Futures | Currencies

Other Dow stocks were mixed after reporting declines in their bottom lines that were nevertheless not as dire as analysts' feared. General Electric fell 4.8% after reporting a 47% drop in quarterly profit. Bank of America was down 0.2% after saying that its second-quarter income fell 5.5% due to higher merger charges and continued credit woes.

The market has risen in every full trading session so far this week – a streak that seems to have given way to a bout of fatigue in Friday's early action. However, traders are also settling expiring options bets, which may lead to increased volatility as the closing bell nears.

Other indexes were modestly lower. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index was off 0.3%, hurt by a 3.5% decline in Internet-search giant Google, which reported profits late Thursday that topped forecasts. However, the company's revenue growth was meager due to the overall fall in spending on online advertising.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, led by declines of around 1% each in its industrial and utilities categories. However, the financial sector was flat, helped in part by a 1% rise in Citigroup. The banking giant reported second-quarter revenue of $29.97 billion and a profit of 49 cents per share on a gain from the sale of Smith Barney.

Among stocks to watch, Mattel climbed 4.5% after topping analyst forecasts.

The economic calendar for the U.S. on Friday is thin. Housing starts increased 3.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted 582,000 annual rate compared to the prior month, the Commerce Department said Friday.

In Europe, shares advanced, putting markets on track for a fifth straight session of gains as major U.S. companies continued to beat earnings expectations.

Asia stocks rose, but gains were tentative ahead of the weekend.