NEW YORK: US stocks opened broadly flat Thursday, continuing a lackluster display despite a significant upgrade to the figure for economic growth in the first quarter.
US gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter was raised to two percent, the Commerce Department said, due partly to stronger-than-expected consumer spending.
Around 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4 percent at 33,979.83.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 4,382.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite was flat at 13,597.27.
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"The opening of the market over the last couple of days, we've seen the markets go green, red, green, red, but so far, they've been holding on," Quincy Krosby from LPL Financial told AFP.
Krosby said a clearer picture of the financial markets should emerge "when the market comes back after the quarter ends and Fourth of July period."
The big US banks like Wells Fargo, JP Morgan and Bank of America, saw their fortunes rise in early trading following the news that all major banks in the United States passed the Federal Reserve's annual stress test, designed to assess how well they would fare in a major financial crisis.
The Fed found all 23 banks tested "are well positioned to weather a severe recession and continue to lend to households and businesses even during a severe recession."
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