Chevron, AB Inbev buoy Wall St on earnings beats

New York - Oil giant Chevron and beer titan AB Inbev buoyed opening trade on Wall Street on Friday as they handily beat third quarter earnings forecasts.

Ten minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial index was up 3.48 points to 17 759.28.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained just 0.02% to 2 089.74, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.13% at 5 080.90.

Chevron gained 1.8% as core earnings per share came in over analyst forecasts despite an overall 63.6% plunge in earnings to $2.0bn due to the oil price crash.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev, poised to take over rival SABMiller in a mega-merger, was up 2.2% as it said operating profit rose by 9.6% in the third quarter to $4.4bn.