Stocks Mostly Higher on Strong Earnings

U.S. stocks were mostly higher in the early trading on Friday, with the Nasdaq rising driven by rally in shares of Amazon.com Inc., Intel Inc. and Microsoft Corp. following stellar earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 20.81 points, or 0.09%, to 24,301.53. The S&P 500 advanced 2.52 points, or 0.09%, to 2,669.46. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 21.28 points, or 0.30% to 7,139.96.

Oil prices edged down early Friday but continued to be largely supported by uncertainty over the fate of the Iran nuclear deal. June West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $68.04 a barrel. Global benchmark June Brent fell 12 cents, or 0.2%, to $74.62 a barrel.

The U.S. economy slowed to a moderate 2.3 percent annual growth rate in the first quarter as consumer spending turned in the weakest performance in nearly five years. The Commerce Department reported Friday that the gain in the gross domestic product followed a 2.9 percent rise in the fourth quarter and gains above 3 percent in the previous two quarters.

Chevron Corp. (CVX) beat profit expectations by a wide margin, offsetting a a revenue miss. Net income rose to $3.64 billion, or $1.90 a share, from $2.68 billion, or $1.41 a share, in the same period a year ago.

Exxon Mobil Inc. (XOM)’s first-quarter profit fell short of estimates. It had net income of $4.650 billion, or $1.09 a share, in the quarter, up from $4.101 billion, or 95 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose to $68.211 billion from $58.671 billion.

Kellogg Co. (K) said Friday it plans to raise its quarterly dividend by 3.7% to 56 cents a share in the third quarter, after paying out a regular second-quarter dividend of 54 cents a share on June 15, to shareholders for record on June 1.