Stocks Drift Amid Rising Bond Yields

Updated from 6:46 a.m. EDT

Stocks were flat early Thursday as solid earnings from

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

and

Advanced Micro

(AMD) - Get Report

ran into the 10-year Treasury bond's 5% yield.

Index futures recently showed the

S&P 500

trading about half a point below fair value, while the Nasdaq 100 was set for a 1-point gain. The 10-year Treasury fell 5/32 in price to yield 5%, while the dollar was flat against the yen and euro.

GE's first-quarter earnings were in line with estimates, as profits rose 14% to $4 billion, or 39 cents a share, and sales rose 10% to $37.8 billion. The industrial titan pegged second-quarter earnings at 46 cents to 48 cents a share and full-year earnings at $1.94 to $2.02 a share. Analysts had forecast 47 cents and $1.99 a share.

AMD swung to a first-quarter profit of $185 million, or 38 cents a share, on an 8.6% jump in revenue to $1.33 billion. The sales number matched estimates while the profit was 8 cents better than expected. Still, shares eased late Tuesday after the company said second-quarter revenue would be flat to slightly lower than the first quarter's.

Oil fell after losing 52 cents a barrel in light, pre-holiday trading Wednesday. The May contract has surged more than 10% over the past two weeks on continuing tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear ambitions. In electronic Nymex trading, May crude was down 48 cents to $68.14 a barrel.

Overseas markets were mixed, with London's FTSE 100 recently down 0.1% to 5995 and Germany's Xetra DAX off 0.3% to 5885. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2% overnight to 17,199, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.7% to 16,429.

At 8:30 a.m. EDT, traders will see the Commerce Department's report on March retail sales. Economists are calling for a gain of 0.5% after February's 1.4% decline. Additional reports on business inventories, import prices and consumer sentiment are also due out Thursday.

Stocks posted moderate gains in anemic trading Wednesday, with the

Dow

adding 0.4% to 11,130 and the

Nasdaq

rising 0.2% to 2315. With markets closed for Good Friday and earnings season kicking in next week, volume could again be on the light side Thursday despite the busy schedule of economic reports.

Other companies with earnings news included

Tribune

( KRB), which said its first-quarter profit fell 29% to $100.7 million, or 33 cents a share. Backing out a net 5-cent charge, earnings beat estimates by a penny.

Clothing chain

New York & Co.

(NWY)

lowered first-quarter earnings guidance on weaker-than-expected sales. The company sees earnings of 9 cents to 13 cents a share, down from a previous forecast of 20 cents to 23 cents.

Lam Research

(LRCX) - Get Report

said third-quarter earnings rose 45% from last year to $86.3 million, or 60 cents a share, while adjusted earnings of 65 cents a share beat estimates by 3 cents. Revenue of $437.4 million also topped forecasts.

To view David Peltier's video take on today's premarket action, click here

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