Financial Market News

Randy Beller, right, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, April 24, 2014.

The bulls and bears were having a tug of war Thursday as they debate the latest corporate earnings, renewed geopolitical tensions and a recent spate of merger news.

3M was among those whose results disappointed investors. KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose less than a point to 1,876 as of 10:24 a.m. Eastern.

All the major U.S. indexes were rising Thursday in premarket trading, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq index popping up by more than 1%.

Investments traditionally considered safe bets such as utilities, gold and government bonds were supposed to flop in 2014 as investors started to pour money into higher-risk, higher-growth stocks that would benefit from a pickup in the economy.

Heineken NV says it has returned to growth in its crucial Western Europe market in the first quarter, after a long period of stagnation.

Asian shares lacked a clear direction in early Thursday trading as players took a mostly wait-and-see view ahead of talks between Japan's prime minister and visiting President Barack Obama.

Greece is set to obtain more debt relief from its international lenders after European officials confirmed on Wednesday that Athens had topped its fiscal targets and achieved a budget surplus in 2013.

Wall Street's six-day win streak is in jeopardy on Wednesday as the bulls hit the pause button after disappointing housing data and mixed earnings reports.

Lackluster economic data out of China and the U.S. offset a string of positive developments in Europe to keep a lid on global stock markets on Wednesday following a strong run, particularly on Wall Street.

Intuitive Surgical was among those reporting disappointed results. A worse-than-expected report on the housing market also weighed on the broader market.

Investor sentiment was weak on Wednesday as Wall Street sifted through and awaited another batch of earnings reports, including by Apple and Facebook.

Peter Costa works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, April 22, 2014.

Every trade has two sides, writes Steve Utkus a principal and director of the Vanguard Center for Retirement Research.

The deal, disclosed on Tuesday, comes as Goldman is working to bulk up its asset management unit, partly by strengthening its quantitative product offerings.

New Zealand stocks rose as Genesis Energy held its gains on the second day of trading, lifting sentiment for fellow government-controlled energy companies, Mighty River Power and Meridian Energy.

The Federal Election Commission will consider a request this Wednesday that could open the floodgates for donors to make political contributions in bitcoin in the upcoming midterm elections.

The market also got a lift from deal news. Netflix rose after reporting a big jump in its earnings and Botox maker Allergan rose sharply on a takeover bid.

European shares rose in early trade on Tuesday as mergers and acquisitions activity in the pharma sector helped the market extend last week's gains and eclipse disappointing results from Dutch conglomerate Philips.

Shares in Botox maker Allergan will be watched closely after activist investor Bill Ackman and Valeant Pharmaceuticals said they were planning a joint bid to buy the company.