US stocks flat ahead of House health vote

New York - Wall Street stocks were flat early Thursday ahead of an expected US congressional vote on health care seen as a proxy for President Donald Trump's agenda.

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives said the vote would take place later Thursday, and expressed confidence they had enough support to advance the bill.

The surprise withdrawal of a health care reform bill in March has clouded the prospects for the Trump agenda, including tax reform, the market's biggest priority.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up slightly at 20 960.62.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose a hair to 2 388.39, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.1% to 6,067.94.

Facebook fell 1.5% despite reporting a 76% increase in first quarter net income to $3.1bn. Analysts noted that shares have risen more than 30% since the start of the year.

Tesla Motors lost 3.2% as it reported a net loss of $330m in the first quarter, far wider than the $121m deficit a year earlier.