By Wallace Witkowski and Anora Mahmudova, MarketWatch

Qualcomm to buy NXP Semiconductors

U.S. stocks fluctuated between slight gains and losses Thursday as an uptick in bond yields prompted a selloff in defensive sectors such as real estate and utilities as investors sifted through mixed earnings results and deal news.

The S&P 500 index fell 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,137, with six of 11 main sectors trading lower. Real-estate stocks were down more than 2%, while utilities and industrials declined nearly 1%. The health-care sector was leading gainers, boosted by better-than-expected earnings from Celgene Corp.(CELG) During the session, the index has been up by as many as 7 points and down by as many as 6.

"The market is uneven because earnings have been uneven, investors really are looking at them on a company by company basis," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management. "When you roll it all up it doesn't amount to much in moving the market."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5 points to 18,204, with Boeing Co.(BA) shares falling 2.4%, and DuPont (DD) shares up 2.2%. The average has been up as many as 54 points and down by as many as 51.

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 Boeing results, while disappointment from Apple Inc. (AAPL) earnings dragged the rest of the market south.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 17 points, or 0.3%, to 5,233. On the session, the index was down 19 points as traded as high as 24 points.

Pressure on stocks is coming in the form of a jump in Treasury yields Thursday, said Michael Antonelli, equity sales trader at Robert W. Baird & Co.

Bond Report:Treasury yields hit 5-month high as global monetary stimulus doubts grow (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-year-treasury-yield-holds-near-5-month-high-after-data-2016-10-27)

"Bonds in general have been a crowded long trade and now that the outlook for the U.K. economy after better-than-expected GDP has shifted, there is an unwinding of these trades," said Antonelli.

The yield on the 10-year Treasurys rose 6 basis points to 1.85% on Thursday.

Kingsview's Nolte said the uptick in interest rates was instrumental in pressuring those sectors sensitive to them with utilities and real estate leading the decliners.

Antonelli also noted that investors are waiting for the outcome of the presidential election on Nov 8.

"We are unlikely to see anything other than sideways trade until after the elections," Antonelli said.

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.

Mark Kepner, managing director of sales and trading at Themis Trading, 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.

A gauge of pending home sales rose (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pending-home-sales-leap-as-demand-bolsters-housing-market-2016-10-27)1.5% in September, reversing an August decline.

Stocks to watch:NXP Semiconductors N.V.(NXPI) shares popped up 1.1% 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 4.1%.

Shares of Twitter(TWTR) rose 1.4% after the social-media company reported profit and sales that beat expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitters-stock-surges-after-profit-and-sales-beat-expectations-2016-10-27), and announced it would lay off 9% of its workforce.

Ford Motor Co.(F) shares were off 1% 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 1.1% 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 5.5%.

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). Shares fell 0.9%.

Celgene Corp.(CELG) shares rose 7.7% after the company boosted its outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/celgene-tops-estimates-and-raises-outlook-2016-10-27) for the year and reported results that easily topped expectations in the latest quarter.

Gannett Co.(GCI) shares dropped 12% after the newspaper company reported a wider-than-expected loss for the quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gannett-misses-profit-expectations-but-sales-beat-2016-10-27).

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.(BMY) shares rallied 7.2% after the drugmaker lifted its outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bristol-myers-squibb-planning-revamp-2016-10-27) after better-than-expected earnings and announced an organizational revamp.

F5 Networks Inc.(FFIV) shares jumped 9.8% after Goldman Sachs and Piper Jaffray both raised their price targets on the stock.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.(ALXN) shares rallied 8.8% after the company raised its outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alexion-pharma-raises-revenue-outlook-2016-10-27).

Teradata Corp.(TDC) shares slumped 7.9% after the company's quarterly revenue and outlook fell short of Wall Street estimates.

L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.(LLL) shares fell 6.9% as sales for the quarter declined (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/l-3-sales-decline-but-forecasts-get-a-boost-2016-10-27-8485262).

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) rose slightly higher 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 1.5% higher after upbeat U.S. supply data.

-- Carla Mozée in London and Barbara Kollmeyer in Madrid contributed to this report.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2016 13:09 ET (17:09 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.