US stocks climb after earnings deluge

New York - US stocks on Thursday finished a holiday-shortened week mostly higher as investors digested a plethora of earnings reports that generally met or exceeded expectations.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14.48 points to 16 410.37.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 2.59 points to 1 864.90, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 9.29 points to 4 095.52.

Major earnings reports came on Thursday from a broad of range of companies across finance, consumer goods, industrials and other segments of the economy.

Of the 84 members of the S&P 500 to report so far, 53 have beaten expectations, 22 have missed and nine have met, according to a report by S&P Capital IQ.

"On balance, even though there are some household names that have disappointed, like JPMorgan and IBM, the earnings season has been better than expected," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities.