By Abhiram Nandakumar
REUTERS - Wall Street was flat on Thursday after a raft of mixed quarterly earnings and a slide in oil prices kept investors on the sidelines.
Crude fell nearly 2 percent, but hovered near five-month highs after the International Energy Agency said 2016 would see the biggest fall in non-OPEC production in 25 years.
A recent recovery in oil and encouraging corporate results have helped push the S&P 500 to within striking distance of its peak of 2,134.72.
However, expectations for first-quarter earnings are dismally low, with S&P 500 companies expected to post a 7.2 percent fall in profit on average, and a 1.4 percent decline in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
"The market has a singular focus to retake the old highs set back in May last year," said Sam Stovall, U.S. equity strategist at S&P Global Market Intelligence in New York.
"Right now, it's probably just taking a little breather because it has come so far so fast, but I still see the market moving up and attempting to get back to breakeven."
At 11:07 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 19.25 points, or 0.11 percent, at 18,077.02, the S&P 500 was down 1.05 points, or 0.05 percent, at 2,101.35 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 13.01 points, or 0.26 percent, at 4,961.14.
Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher. Healthcare rose 0.65 percent, while Verizon pulled telecom down 1.9 percent.
Verizon's shares fell 3.1 percent to $50.13 after its profit met expectations and the company said a strike by its wireline workers was expected to hurt earnings this quarter.
Revenue growth remains a key influence. American Express shares were up 1.1 percent after revenue rose for the first time in five quarters and Yum Brands up 1.2 percent, while Mattel sank 5.5 percent after sales fell.
Under Armor rose 8.1 percent to $47.49, while General Motors rose 1.9 percent to $32.80 after they joined a raft of companies that reported better-than-expected profits.
Travelers fell 3.8 percent to $111.37 after the property and casualty insurer reported a 17 percent fall in profit. The stock was the biggest drag on the Dow.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,618 to 1,224. On the Nasdaq, 1,484 issues rose and 1,109 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 10 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 37 new highs and nine lows.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)
