US: Facebook lifts Nasdaq; Dow edges down

[NEW YORK] Strong Facebook earnings boosted the Nasdaq in opening trade Thursday, but declines in the Dow and S&P 500 suggested growing fatigue with a month-long stock rally.

Facebook advanced 2.2 per cent after reporting that net profit surged 186 per cent to US$2.05 billion on growing online advertising revenues.

Still, "the broader market isn't being moved by Facebook's terrific earnings results," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"The lackluster response is indicative somewhat of a tired market, which has good reason to rest a bit after launching into a 9.0 per cent rally" after the surprise British vote to leave the European Union.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,450.32, down 0.1 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent to 2,165.40, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.1 per cent to 5,146.89.

AFP