US stocks flat; Qualcomm jumps on $47 bn takeover of NXP

US stocks were flat early Thursday despite mostly solid earnings reports, including from Tesla Motors and Twitter, as well as Qualcomm's $47 billion takeover of Dutch rival NXP Semiconductors.

Tesla jumped 5.4 percent after it announced a surprise third quarter profit of $22 million as it touted new product launches and store openings.

Twitter climbed 2.3 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.

About 40 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,191.94, down less than 0.1 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 2,138.00, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added a bare 0.2 percent to 5,251.21.

Other gainers after earnings included Bristol-Myers Squibb, which won 3.5 percent, and Western Digital, which vaulted 9.5 percent, and Celgene, which won 6.7 percent.

But Ford dropped 1.5 percent as third-quarter net profit plunged from $2.2 billion to $957 million due in part to heavy costs to recall 2.4 million cars.

UPS shed 1.1 percent as it reported that third-quarter net profit inched up one percent to $1.3 billion, meeting analyst expectations.