Stocks eked out small gains on Thursday in another uninspiring session on Wall Street, with worries about weak business spending keeping investors wary.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed the day up 26.34 points, or 0.20 percent, to end at 13103.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 was up 4.22 points, or 0.30 percent, to finish at 1,412.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.42 points, or 0.15 percent, to close unofficially at 2,986.12.
Procter & Gamble was the biggest gainer in the Dow after the consumer products company, whose products include Tide, Gillette and Charmin, reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations.
Three stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was in line with the recent average at 3.4 billion shares.
With about 244 companies in the S&P 500 reporting results so far, 62.3 percent have beaten expectations, a slight improvement on the typical 62 percent average, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Revenue, on the other hand, remains disappointing, with just 36.3 percent of companies reporting higher-than-expected revenue - compared with a historic beat rate of 62 percent.
"We had 50-some companies report today, and it's all a continuation of companies beating on earnings, but coming in lower on revenue," said Terry Morris, senior vice president and senior equity manager for National Penn Investors Trust Company in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Colgate-Palmolive shares fell 2 percent to $104.41 after the toothpaste and household products manufacturer unveiled a cost-cutting plan that involved shedding 6 percent of its workforce by the end of 2016.
U.S. durable goods orders rose more than expected in September, though orders excluding volatile defense goods and aircraft were unchanged and business investment showed signs of stalling.
Big-picture uncertainty has also had a quiet dampening effect on stock prices as the countdown to the U.S. presidential election and the impending fiscal cliff begins in earnest.
"Certainly, the fiscal cliff continues to weigh on the market. If it weren't for that pressure, we'd probably be higher," Morris said.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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