THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
U.S. markets are little changed early Thursday morning but continue to hover near all-time highs as a couple of high-profile companies report quarterly earnings.
Futures for S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are virtually unchanged before the opening bell. The S&P and Nasdaq both closed at record highs Wednesday.
Delta Air Lines easily topped Wall Street expectations for third quarter profit. Delta expects recent momentum to carry through the end of the year and forecast full-year profit of $6 per share, in the upper half of its previous guidance range. Delta shares rose 5.8% in premarket, lifting other major airlines’ shares along with it. United rose 3.9% and American jumped 4.9%.
U.S. benchmark crude dipped 21 cents to $62.34 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged down 18 cents to $66.07 per barrel.
Gold shed some of its stellar gains but was still at $4,054.50 per ounce as of Thursday morning in the U.S.
Elsewhere, European shares were mixed at midday while most Asian stocks rose.
Germany’s DAX added 0.6% while France’s CAC 40 gained 0.4%. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% as sentiments were weighed by banking and housing stocks.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged down 0.3% to 26,740.37, while the Shanghai Composite index added 1.3% to 3,933.97 in its first trading session since Oct. 1.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up nearly 0.3% to 8,969.80 while Taiwan’s Taiex pared earlier bigger gains, closing 0.9% higher.
