NEW YORK — Stocks are off to a mixed start on Wall Street as more company earnings reports roll in. The S&P 500 was essentially flat early Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 29 points, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2 per cent. Keurig Dr Pepper jumped 3 per cent after reporting earnings and revenue that came in ahead of what investors were expecting. Honeywell Aerospace lost about a quarter of its value after turning in results that fell well short of forecasts. European markets were higher, and Asian markets closed mostly lower overnight. The price of Brent crude rose 2 per cent. Treasury yields moved higher. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. BANGKOK (AP) — U.S. futures were mixed Thursday ahead of key economic data and continued uncertainty about the conflict in Iran that is hanging over markets despite what the Trump administration has described as a potential deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Futures rose 0.09 per cent for the S&P 500 and 0.13 per cent for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Nasdaq futures bucked the trend and fell 0.55 per cent. SpaceX shares rose 3 per cent. More than 911 million SpaceX shares held by early investors and employees become eligible for sale on Thursday as a lockup period for the stock expires. That is more than double the shares that were initially offered to the public for sale during the initial public offering for Elon Musk’s company. SpaceX initially soared above the share’s US$150 asking price, making Musk the world’s first trillionaire. They have since tumbled about 25 per cent, and were trading just above US$112 before the opening bell. Moderna shares rose nearly 4 per cent. The company received regulatory approval for the first mRNA influenza vaccine. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, edged up 1 per cent to US$80.55 a barrel. Oil prices have been swinging for months and were as high as US$102 per barrel at one point during the conflict, jolting already stubbornly high inflation. Higher oil prices pushed gasoline prices upward, increasing the cost of travel, shipping, packaging and other goods and services. U.S. benchmark crude oil ticked up about 1 per cent to US$76.02 a barrel. U.S. President Donald Trump has said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is coming soon. But there have been many stops and starts during the five-month-old conflict that has stifled the global supply of oil and rattled energy markets. Markets will get an update Friday on U.S. jobs with the monthly employment report for July, and analysts say investors appear to be bracing for its potential impact. Strong corporate profits and expectations for more growth ahead generally have been steering U.S. stocks higher. But Asian benchmarks have been hit by bouts of selling of computer chipmakers and other companies related to the boom in artificial intelligence. “Asia’s chip sell-off looks like a combination of profit-taking and risk reduction ahead of Friday’s nonfarm payroll report,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. The Kospi lost 4.6 per cent to 6,296.38, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.9 per cent to 65,683.26. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng declined 1.5 per cent to 25,530.28, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.6 per cent to 3,900.35. In European trading, Germany’s DAX picked up 0.18 per cent while the CAC 40 in Paris surged 0.58 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.08 per cent. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent from an all-time high and the Dow industrials rose 0.5 per cent. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.8 per cent. Overall, the market has been rising as companies head into the closing stretch of their latest round of earnings reports with sharp overall gains. Three-quarters of the companies within the S&P 500 have reported results so far, and Wall Street expects profit growth of 50 per cent when they are all finished. ___ Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
