By Anora Mahmudova and Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

Qualcomm to buy NXP Semiconductors

U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday following upbeat earnings results from a number of major companies, as well as merger deal news between NXP Semiconductors and Qualcomm.

The S&P 500 index rose 4.40 points, or 0.2%, to 2,138, with six of 11 main sectors trading higher. The Health-care sector was leading gainers, boosted by better-than-expected earnings from Celgene Corp. (CELG)

"We've had a number of good earnings reports and deal news, which is helping the main indexes, while data are confirming that the economy is not overheating and are consistent with the Fed's view that only gradual increases are appropriate," said Mark Kepner, managing director of sales and trading at Themis Trading.

Kepner noted that the move in 10-year Treasury yield to 1.84% suggests that investors do not fear that the Fed might be behind the curve on tightening the policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 20 points, or 0.1%, to 18,220.

The Dow industrials on Wednesday stood out with a 0.2% rise (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-slide-as-apple-slumps-after-earnings-2016-10-26), boosted by results for Boeing Co. (BA), while disappointment from Apple Inc. (AAPL) earnings dragged the rest of the market south.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 24 points, or 0.3%, to 5,270.

Stocks have struggled this week, and are set to log losses for October. "A mixed earnings season in the U.S. makes a rally to higher ground difficult to justify," said Lee Wild, head of equity strategy at Interactive Investor, in a note to clients.

"There just isn't the consistency right now, and a U.S. election less than two weeks away lessens conviction among investors," added Wild.

Kepner said that earnings reports have helped markets from falling during the period that is usually volatile. "Earnings have been not been spectacular to be a catalyst for markets to go higher, but they definitely helped markets stay close to all-time highs," Kepner said.

Data: The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-drop-3000-to-258000-2016-10-27)last week fell by 3,000 to 258,000, extending a period of extremely low layoffs last seen in the early 1970s.

Orders for long-lasting goods (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/durable-goods-orders-soften-in-september-2016-10-27)made in the U.S. fell slightly in September, largely because of lower demand for military hardware and computers.

Pending-home sales for September and third-quarter rental vacancies are scheduled for release at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Stocks to watch:NXP Semiconductors N.V.(NXPI) shares popped up 1.2% after the chip maker said it's in a deal to be acquired by (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nxp-semis-stock-surges-after-47-billion-buyout-deal-with-qualcomm-2016-10-27)Qualcomm Inc (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nxp-semis-stock-surges-after-47-billion-buyout-deal-with-qualcomm-2016-10-27).(QCOM) that would value NXP at about $38 billion. Qualcomm shares rallied 3.7%.

Shares of Twitter(TWTR) rose 3.9% as the social-media company's profit and sales beat expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitters-stock-surges-after-profit-and-sales-beat-expectations-2016-10-27), and said it will lay off 9% of its workforce.

Ford Motor Co.(F) shares were off 0.5% after the auto maker's third-quarter profit dropped 56% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-profit-hurt-by-recall-costs-2016-10-27). Per-share operating profit of 26 cents a share, however, were ahead of expectations.

Tesla Motors Inc.(TSLA) shares were up 5% after the electric-car maker late Wednesday delivered a surprise profit (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2016/10/26/tesla-earnings-expected-to-show-loss-despite-elon-musks-plea-live-blog/) and better-than-expected revenue.

ConocoPhillips(COP) issued an upbeat full-year outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/conocophillips-shares-rise-after-upbeat-full-year-outlook-2016-10-27) as its quarterly adjusted loss of 66 cents a share was narrower than the anticipated 68 cents a share. Shares rose 2%.

Colgate-Palmolive Co.(CL) posted third-quarter sales that missed the consensus view (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/colgate-palmolive-shares-fall-after-sales-miss-2016-10-27).

Celgene Corp.(CELG) shares rose 3.6% after the company boosted its outlook for the year and reported results that easily topped expectations in the latest quarter.

Read: Riding high on profit, Tesla's Elon Musk promises much, trash-talks nearly everyone (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/riding-high-on-profit-teslas-elon-musk-promises-much-trash-talks-nearly-everyone-2016-10-26)

After the close, results from Google parent Alphabet Inc.(GOOGL) , Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) and LinkedIn Corp.(LNKD) are due.

Check out earnings previews for Alphabet (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/google-earnings-expect-youtube-to-be-a-highlight-ahead-of-pixel-boost-2016-10-25) , Twitter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-earnings-what-to-expect-after-merger-and-layoff-rumors-2016-10-25), Amazon (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-due-for-another-record-quarter-what-to-expect-2016-10-24)

Read:Alphabet spinning off driverless cars into stand-alone business (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alphabet-spinning-off-driverless-cars-into-standalone-business-2016-10-26)

Other markets:Asian markets (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/weak-china-economic-data-help-push-asian-markets-down-2016-10-26) had a mostly weaker session, weighed somewhat by weak Chinese industrial profits. In Europe stocks traded mixed as investors absorbed earnings from Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.XE) (DBK.XE) , which reported a surprise profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/deutsche-bank-swings-to-profit-2016-10-27-1485425).

The dollar (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yen-boosted-against-dollar-on-weakness-in-japanese-stocks-2016-10-27) was little changed against rivals, while gold rose modestly. Oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-steady-as-markets-ignore-us-supply-data-focus-on-opec-2016-10-27) traded slightly higher after upbeat U.S. supply data.

-- Carla Mozée contributed to this report.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2016 09:56 ET (13:56 GMT)

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