(Corrects percentage changes in 5th bullet)
* Microsoft, PayPal push S&P, Nasdaq forward
* 3M drops on lowered profit outlook, drags down Dow
* Twitter tumbles as ad glitches hit revenue
* Ford dives, Tesla soars after results
* Dow off 0.11%, S&P 500 up 0.19%, Nasdaq rises 0.81%
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose
on Thursday following strong quarterly reports from several
technology companies, including Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , but
dour results from 3M Co MMM.N stymied the Dow Jones Industrial
Average.
Microsoft shares gained 2.0% as the tech giant's outlook for
cloud computing services surpassed analysts' expectations, while
shares of PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL.O rose 8.6% on the payments
company's strong full-year earnings forecast. Microsoft and
PayPal were the top boosts to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
Shares of 3M dropped after the industrial conglomerate
missed third-quarter sales estimates and lowered its full-year
profit forecast. The company's U.S. sales dropped 1.1% and its
Asia-Pacific sales fell 5% as industrial production slowed.
Individual company results have greatly swayed the direction
of Wall Street's major indexes this week in the midst of
earnings season. More than 80% of the 168 S&P 500 companies that
have reported results have beaten profit expectations, according
to Refinitiv data.
Yet the earnings season has also reflected signs of economic
vulnerability, said John Carey, managing director at Amundi
Pioneer Asset Management in Boston.
"On the whole, the earnings reports have supported a view of
the economy as slowing," he said.
In particular, 3M's results pointed to continued fallout
from the U.S.-China trade dispute, said J.J. Kinahan, chief
market strategist at TD Ameritrade in Chicago.
"It's showing us that the tariff situation continues to be a
major concern for companies in how to spend their money,"
Kinahan said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 28.42 points,
or 0.11%, to 26,805.53, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 5.77 points,
or 0.19%, to 3,010.29 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
66.00 points, or 0.81%, to 8,185.80.
After the bell, shares of Intel Corp INTC.O and Amazon.com
Inc AMZN.O moved sharply following the companies' results.
Intel shares were last up about 8% while Amazon shares were last
down around 9%.
Lam Research Corp LRCX.O shares jumped 13.9%, hitting a
record high, after the chip equipment maker forecast strong
results for the December quarter. Lam Research was the top boost
to the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX , which rose
2.5% a day after being pressured by losses in shares of Texas
Instruments Inc TXN.O . Twitter shares plummeted 20.8% after the social networking
company's revenue and profit missed estimates, in part due to
technical issues with its ad platform. Ford Motor Co F.N shares tumbled 6.6% after the automaker
cut its profit outlook for the year. By contrast,
Tesla Inc TSLA.O shares surged 17.7% after the electric car
maker reported a surprise quarterly profit. Dow Inc DOW.N shares advanced 4.7% after the chemicals
company beat profit estimates, having cut costs to offset a
sharp drop in global demand. Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N shares fell 1.8% after CVS Health
Corp CVS.N said it was pulling 22-ounce bottles of J&J baby
powder from its stores. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.02-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.20-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and three new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 54 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.47 billion shares, compared
with the 6.48 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.