US stocks up on earnings, $47 bn semiconductor deal
US stocks opened higher Thursday following a plethora of mostly solid earnings, including from Tesla Motors and Twitter, as well as Qualcomm's $47 billion takeover of Dutch rival NXP Semiconductors.
Tesla jumped 4.1 percent after it announced a surprise third quarter profit of $22 million as it touted new product launches and store openings.
Twitter climbed 2.0 percent after reporting higher diluted earnings than expected and announcing plans to cut 9 percent of its staff.
NXP Semiconductors gained 1.6 percent on news of its takeover by Qualcomm, which advanced 3.6 percent.
Five minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,237.10, up 0.2 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent to 2,145.33, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 percent to 5,269.19.