Stocks Opened Higher, Earnings on Focus

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Wednesday as investors assessed mixed first-quarter earnings releases. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 10.94 points, or 0.05%, to 20,534.22. The S&P 500 added 9.75 points, or 0.42%, to 2,351.94. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 37.09 points, or 0.63%, to 5,886.56.

Oil prices on Wednesday traded little changed as investors awaited government data on U.S. inventories after industry data showed a decline in crude supplies, but a gain in gasoline stocks. May West Texas Intermediate crude was trading off 3 cents, or less than 0.1%, at $52.82 a barrel. June Brent crude picked up 6 cents, or 0.1%, at $54.95 a barrel.

International Business Machines Corp.’s profit fell 13% in the first quarter despite an improvement in the business unit featuring Watson artificial intelligence operations. It reported net income of $1.8 billion on $18.2 billion of revenue in the first quarter and diluted earnings per share of $2.38, up from $2.35 in the comparable 2016 period.

Morgan Stanley said its quarterly earnings rose. The firm reported a profit of $1.93 billion, or $1 a share. That compares with the $1.13 billion, or 55 cents a share, it reported in the first quarter of 2016. Revenue grew to $9.75 billion from $7.79 billion a year ago.

BlackRock Inc. (BLK) reported Wednesday first-quarter net income that rose to $862 million, or $5.23 a share, from $657 million, or $3.92 a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue increased 8% to $2.82 billion.