Having opened lower, leading stocks are steadying the boat at lower levels, despite mildly disappointing gross domestic product data.
The Dow Jones average was down 25 points, or 0.1%, at 17,755 in lunch-time trading, while the broader-based S&P 500 was off almost two points (0.1%) at 2,089.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fared worst of the three, sliding 15 points (0.3%) to 5,080.
The preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) number came in a bit weaker than expected, though the bulls will no doubt spin that into good news, arguing that it will help stave off the timing of a rate rise by the Fed.
On an annualized basis, GDP rose 1.5% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, versus the consensus forecast of 1.6% growth.
“US GDP gave yet another indicator of why markets believe a December rate hike is optimistic at best from the Fed, with the headline rate falling back to 1.5%,” said Josh Mahony at spread betting firm IG.
“Certainly this quarter was more than overcome by an outstanding revision to Q2, which saw a reading of 3.9%, yet there is an issue of consistency and with each and every US economic release, comes a feeling that the stability needed for a hike is not quite there yet,” he opined.
In the clash of old school and new school payments systems providers, the old school Mastercard came out ahead of online payments pioneer PayPal.
Mastercard (NYSE:MA), the operator of the second-largest payments network, said net income fell 3.7% to US$977mln from US$1.02bn the year before, but the fall was not as precipitous as analysts had feared.
Reported earnings per share dipped to 86 cents from 87 cents, but excluding a US$50mln charge relating to its pension plan, the number rose to 91 cents, which topped analysts' expectations by three cents.
The shares were up 1.2% at US$101.24.
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), in its first trading update since being cut loose from former owner eBay, saw its shares slide 1.5% to US$35.96, as investors sold shares after mulling over the results released after the close of trading yesterday.
Sales totaled US$2.26bn in the September quarter from US$1.98bn a year earlier; that was slightly lower than the $2.27bn projected by analysts, according to Capital IQ.
The company reported a profit of US$301mln, or US$0.25 per share, for the third quarter, from US$234mln, or US$0.19 per share, a year earlier.
it looks like the wave of consolidation in the pharmaceuticals sector is not yet over, with Allergan (NYSE:AGN), up almost 8% at US$309.76, the latest in the frame, after it was confirmed it is talking to Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) about a merger.
Aside from getting its hands on the Botox brand name, the appeal for Pfizer is the ever-popular one for US-based pharmaceuticals companies of using the target company's Irish domicile to take advantage of lower tax rates.
Nonetheless, Pfizer's shares fell back 2% to US$34.74.
Sticking with the healthcare theme, medical insurance provider Aetna (NYSE:AET) was defying the weaker trend, rising US$3.77 to US$114.88 after third quarter figures were ahead of expectations.
Underlying earnings per share of US$1.90 were 12 cents higher than analysts had expected, and prompted the company to shift its full-year earnings per share guidance range up to US$7.45-7.55, which means the midpoint is now 10 cents higher than previous guidance.