Stocks off to a shaky start
Wall Street opens higher, but gains quickly falter despite parade of upbeat results.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks struggled to break into the black at Thursday's open despite a wave of strong results, including Apple.
After opening higher, the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) index and tech-laden Nasdaq composite (COMP) all hovered near breakeven a few minutes into the session.
Stocks have see-sawed lately amid a barrage of corporate reports. Wall Street abandoned earlier gains Wednesday and finished the session lower.
"The risk for today and tomorrow is the tone we've had for the last couple of weeks, for fairly chopping trading," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets.
But investors may be motivated to recharge the recent rally after a string a positive earnings reports Thursday morning.
Corporate results: Hershey Foods (HSY, Fortune 500), Diamond Offshore (DO), AutoNation (AN, Fortune 500), Marriott (MAR, Fortune 500), RadioShack (RSH) and Raytheon (RTN, Fortune 500) all posted better-than-expected results.
Financial companies Fifth Third (FITB, Fortune 500) and PNC Bank (PNC, Fortune 500) also beat expectations.
On the downside, UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) said its quarterly profit sank and earnings were short of expectations.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) and Amgen (AMGN, Fortune 500) are slated to report after the close.
On Wednesday, Apple posted quarterly results that handily beat analysts' expectations.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) reported a 15% rise in profit after U.S. markets closed and a nearly 9% rise in sales. The company said surging iPhone sales helped offset weakness in Mac computer sales.
Online auction site eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) also posted results late Wednesday. The company reported lower quarterly sales and earnings, but the results topped forecasts.
Economy: The number of people filing first-time unemployment claims rose 27,000 last week to 640,000, the Labor Department said.
The number of ongoing unemployment claims rose 93,000 to a record 6,137,000 in the week ended April 11.
A reading on existing home sales is set to be released at 10 a.m. ET.
Credit card crackdown: President Obama will meet Thursday with executives of 14 leading companies to press his case for new consumer protections.
The meeting comes a day after the House Financial Services Committee voted 48-19 to approve a bill to clamp down on rates and fees.
World markets: Stocks in Asia advanced, with Japan's Nikkei gaining about 1.4%. European markets were higher in midday trading.
Oil and money: Oil prices rose 65 cents a barrel to $49.50. The dollar was lower versus the euro and higher against the yen. 
