US stocks open higher after earnings reports

New York Jan 26 (IANS) US stocks opened higher on Thursday as corporate earnings reports came out overall positive.

Shortly after the opening bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 112.60 points or 0.43 per cent to 26 364.72 reports Xinhua.

The S&P 500 increased 8.52 points or 0.30 per cent to 2 846.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 39.85 points or 0.54 per cent to 7 454.90.

US construction machinery and equipment company Caterpillar said on Thursday that its fourth-quarter adjusted profit was $2.16 a share topping Wall Street forecasts of $1.77 a share.

The Caterpillar stock rose four per cent in pre-market trading before slipping 0.4 per cent in the morning session.

US manufacturing company 3M on Thursday also reported earnings and revenue that beat market expectations. Shares of 3M rose 0.6 per cent in the morning session.

As of Thursday 77 per cent of the S&P 500 companies that had reported surpassed earnings expectations while 79 per cent of those companies had beaten sales estimates according to US financial information company FactSet.

--IANS
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