 "A Wall St. sign is seen outside the entrance of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's financial district")
US stocks were little changed in early trading on Friday as investors assessed mixed results from industrial heavyweights.
GE's shares rose 2.7% to $28.79 - their highest since the financial crisis - after reporting better-than-expected earnings.
But Honeywell fell about 1% to $97.64 even though it also beat profit estimates.
Industrial tools maker Grainger fell 5.2% to $210.0 after its results missed estimates.
"Today's earnings are mixed. They don't paint a strong one-directional picture of improvement or deterioration," said Doug Burtnick, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management.
Burtnick said he expects the day's trading to be mostly muted. "This could, without some other piece of news, be one of those settle-in and not very exciting kind of days."
At 9:58 a.m. ET (1358 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 16 points, or 0.09%, at 17,157.75, the S&P 500 was up 3.09 points, or 0.15%, at 2,026.95 and the Nasdaq composite index was down 1.44 points, or 0.03%, at 4,868.66.
Seven of the 10 major S&P sectors rose, with the telecom sector's 0.75% rise leading the advancers.
Global stocks advanced on Friday, taking cues from Thursday's rally in U.S. stocks triggered by strong results from Citigroup and positive data.
S&P 500 companies are expected to report a 4% fall in third-quarter profit, the biggest decline in six years, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The dollar rose after Thursday's data rekindled hopes that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates this year.
The Fed, which kept rates at near-zero levels at its September meeting, is waiting for signs of stabilizing inflation and sustained economic recovery before it pulls the trigger.
U.S. industrial production in September shrank for the second month in a row, but was in line with expectations.
The University of Michigan's preliminary index on consumer sentiment for October, which is forecast to rise to 89 from a final reading of 87.2 in September, is due at 10:00 a.m.
Youku Tudou jumped 23.4% to $25.21 after Alibaba offered to buy the video-streaming company for $26.60 per American Depository Share. Alibaba was up 1.6% at $72.96.
Wynn Resorts fell 8.4% to $67.59, a day after the casino operator reported third-quarter results below expectations. Las Vegas Sands fell 2.8%.
Zafgen slumped nearly 33% to $14.13 after the company said its obesity drug trial been put on partial clinical hold by the U.S. FDA.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,369 to 1,353. On the Nasdaq, 1,295 issues fell and 1,035 advanced.
The S&P 500 index showed 17 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 34 new highs and seven new lows.
