US stocks end mostly higher as Facebook rises

Strong earnings from Facebook and anticipation of banner results from Amazon and Google parent Alphabet pushed US stocks mostly higher Thursday, with the tech-rich Nasdaq scoring the biggest gains.

Facebook climbed 1.3 percent after reporting that net profit surged 186 percent in the second quarter to $2.05 billion on growing online advertising revenues.

Shares of Amgen and MasterCard also rose following earnings reports, offsetting declines from Ford and others that reported disappointing results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 percent at 18,456.35.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.2 percent to 2,170.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.3 percent to 5,154.98.

Sixty-eight percent of S&P 500 companies to report earnings so far have bested expectations, said S&P Global Market Intelligence.

"The majority of earnings reports are better than expected," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.

"Certainly there are some disappointments, but for the most part, they are better than estimates."

Ford plunged 8.1 percent as it warned it may miss its 2016 profit targets due in part to a cooling of the US auto boom that has forced car dealerships to boost incentives.

Rival automakers General Motors and Fiat Chrysler lost 3.2 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

Whole Foods Market tumbled 9.3 percent as it reported a 22.1 percent drop in fiscal third-quarter net income to $120 million and said comparable store sales dropped 2.6 percent.

Other companies to rally after earnings reports were Groupon, up 28.8 percent; GrubHub, up 24.4 percent; and Tempur Sealy International, up 16.8 percent,

Cloud-computing company NetSuite surged 18.4 percent on news it agreed to be acquired by software giant Oracle for $9.3 billion. Oracle rose 0.6 percent.