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NEW YORK, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning session on Tuesday, as investors pondered over newly-released corporate earnings reports.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 55.39 points, or 0.28 percent, to 19,855.24. The S&P 500 rose 7.55 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,272.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 17.87 points, or 0.32 percent, to 5,570.82.
Johnson & Johnson posted 2016 fourth-quarter results before the opening bell on Tuesday. The company's quarterly adjusted earnings per share was 1.58 U.S. dollars, an increase of 9.7 percent, beating market estimates, but its revenues fell short of forecasts.
DuPont announced fourth-quarter GAAP earnings of 29 cents per share and operating earnings of 51 cents per share, topping Wall Street expectations.
Shares of Verizon dropped over 4 percent around midday Tuesday after the tech giant posted worse-than-expected quarterly earnings.
The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the fourth quarter of 2016 are expected to rise 6.7 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 4.1 percent.
On the economic front, adjusted for seasonal influences, the Markit Flash U.S. Manufacturing PMI for January increased to 55.1 from 54.3 in December.
U.S. stocks ended mildly lower on Monday, as investors continued to digest U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration speech. Enditem
