<p>Wall Street was mixed early Thursday amid optimism over US-China trade talks and as Tesla surged on positive earnings, while Twitter plunged on disappointing results.</p>.<p>Analysts cited reports outlining Chinese commitments to buy US agricultural products as a positive sign about a preliminary trade agreement announced earlier this month that is still being hashed out.</p>.<p>The European Central Bank, as expected, held interest rates unchanged, while US data showed a drop in durable goods sales in September amid the General Motors strike and the production halt at Boeing over the grounded 737 MAX.</p>.<p>About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 26,774.20, down 0.2 per cent.</p>.<p>The broad-based S&P 500 climbed less than 0.1 per cent to 3,005.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent to 8,153.22.</p>.<p>Among the many companies reporting earnings, Tesla Motors stood out, jumping 16.5 per cent after on a surprise profit of $143 million confounding analysts who had been forecasting a loss.</p>.<p>Tesla said it is producing vehicles "on a trial basis" at its so-called Gigafactory in Shanghai, which will help boost global production and sales.</p>.<p>But Twitter plunged 18.3 percent after it reported a sharp drop in quarterly profits as glitches in its ad-targeting ability hit revenues.</p>.<p>Among other companies reporting, Microsoft rose 1.1 percent, 3M sank 4.7 percent and Ford plunged 6.0 percent.</p>
<p>Wall Street was mixed early Thursday amid optimism over US-China trade talks and as Tesla surged on positive earnings, while Twitter plunged on disappointing results.</p>.<p>Analysts cited reports outlining Chinese commitments to buy US agricultural products as a positive sign about a preliminary trade agreement announced earlier this month that is still being hashed out.</p>.<p>The European Central Bank, as expected, held interest rates unchanged, while US data showed a drop in durable goods sales in September amid the General Motors strike and the production halt at Boeing over the grounded 737 MAX.</p>.<p>About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 26,774.20, down 0.2 per cent.</p>.<p>The broad-based S&P 500 climbed less than 0.1 per cent to 3,005.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent to 8,153.22.</p>.<p>Among the many companies reporting earnings, Tesla Motors stood out, jumping 16.5 per cent after on a surprise profit of $143 million confounding analysts who had been forecasting a loss.</p>.<p>Tesla said it is producing vehicles "on a trial basis" at its so-called Gigafactory in Shanghai, which will help boost global production and sales.</p>.<p>But Twitter plunged 18.3 percent after it reported a sharp drop in quarterly profits as glitches in its ad-targeting ability hit revenues.</p>.<p>Among other companies reporting, Microsoft rose 1.1 percent, 3M sank 4.7 percent and Ford plunged 6.0 percent.</p>