US stocks flat at start of big earnings week

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks opened little changed Monday as Bank of America kicked off a heavy week of quarterly earnings with better-than-expected results.

Bank of America rose 1.9 per cent despite reporting that second-quarter earnings dipped 19.4 per cent to US$3.9 billion due to tighter margins from low interest rates. The bank benefited from loan growth and lower expenses.

Other reports this week include IBM, Netflix, General Motors and General Electric. Second quarter earnings-per-share for S&P 500 companies is projected to fall 5.3 per cent from the year-ago period.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 18,513.06, down less than 0.1 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 was barely changed at 2,162.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.1 per cent to 5,032.93.

AFP