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US stocks were little changed on Thursday amid a flood of quarterly earnings reports, while investors assessed President Donald Trump's tax reform plan.
The one-page plan, unveiled on Wednesday, proposed deep tax cuts for many businesses, but offered no detail on how it would be paid for without increasing the deficit.
US stocks snapped a two-day rally to end lower on Wednesday after the plan was unveiled. The prospects of hefty tax cuts have been a major driver of the post-election rally since November.
"Yesterday (Wednesday), you saw some selling but it didn't develop into an outright heavy pressure day," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth.
At 9:38 am ET (1338 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 11.43 points, or 0.05 percent, at 20,986.52, the S&P 500 was up 0.14 points, or 0.01 percent, at 2,387.59 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 6.55 points, or 0.11 percent, at 6,031.78.
Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, lead by a 0.35 per cent gain in the technology index. PayPal jumped to an all-time high of $47.50 after the company raised its full-year earnings forecast.
However, a more than 2 per cent drop in oil prices weighed on the energy sector, which fell 0.8 per cent.
Investors are keeping a close watch on the first-quarter earnings season to gauge fundamental performance in the face of lofty valuations.
Of the 181 S&P 500 companies that have released results so far, nearly 77 percent have reported earnings above analysts' expectations. In a typical quarter, about 64 percent of the companies top earnings estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Comcast was the top stock on the S&P, with a 3 percent increase after the company's profit beat analysts' estimates on strong subscriber growth.
Under Armour jumped 7.7 percent after the sportswear maker posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
Bristol-Myers was up 2.4 percent after the drugmaker reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and a jump in revenue.
American Airlines tumbled 8.1 percent after the company said it had deferred the delivery of several Boeing and Airbus jets, in the latest sign of oversupply in the market for long-distance airliners. The news dragged down shares of other U.S. carriers, including Delta and United Continental.
Microsoft, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet are scheduled to report results after the bell.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,274 to 1,236. On the Nasdaq, 1,207 issues rose and 1,009 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 39 52-week highs and no lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 72 highs and 11 lows.
