Dow falls on weak P&G results; Nasdaq up

The Dow was dragged lower by weak Procter & Gamble results Thursday, but the Nasdaq gained as food giant Mondelez raised its forecast after better-than-expected earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 5.41 points (0.03 percent) to 17,745.98.

The broad-based S&P 500 was essentially flat, adding 0.06 at 2,108.63, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 17.05 (0.33 percent) to 5,128.59.

Dow member Procter & Gamble sank 4.0 percent after reporting the sixth straight quarter of declining sales.

But Mondelez advanced 5.0 percent as it projected a three percent increase in 2015 sales, up from the prior forecast for a two percent rise.

Other Nasdaq names to gain included Amazon (+1.5 percent), Gilead Sciences (+1.9 percent) and Netflix (+4.2 percent).

US gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the April-June period, the Commerce Department reported, slightly below the 2.5 percent consensus estimate.

However, Commerce revised up its estimate on the first quarter to growth of 0.6 percent from a 0.2 percent contraction.

Facebook fell 2.1 percent after reporting second-quarter net profit declined nine percent to $715 million despite a 39 percent surge in revenues to $4.04 billion due to a strong performance in mobile advertising. The results bested expectations. Facebook shares have been hovering near all-time highs.

Pharmaceuticals distributor McKesson fell 4.2 percent after reporting that profits rose 42.9 percent to $576 million. Deutsche Bank said comments from company executives suggest weaker than expected profits from generic drug sales.

Whole Foods Market sank 11.6 percent as it forecast earnings for the current quarter of 34-35 cents per share, three cents below analyst expectations. Executives said sales had been dented after it acknowledged overcharging customers in New York City stores.

Western Digital, which makes computer hard drives, surged 9.8 percent after earnings for the quarter ending July 3 came in at $220 million, down 30.5 percent from last year. The results were "not as bad as feared," Deutsche Bank said.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.27 percent from 2.28 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year dropped to 2.95 percent from 2.99 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.