Wall Street set to open flat after Dow breaches 22,000

By Tanya Agrawal

REUTERS - U.S. stocks looked set to open little changed on Thursday, a day after the Dow industrials breached the 22,000 mark for the first time, powered by Apple's strong quarterly results.

However, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 were held back as other major tech stocks lost ground following recent strong gains that have made the sector the strongest performer in 2017. The S&P tech index is up 23 percent this year.

The Dow has risen 11.4 percent and the S&P is up 10.6 percent in 2017, helped by a strong earnings season, even as Wall Street loses confidence that President Donald Trump will be able to legislate his pro-growth agenda this year.

"Equities continue to trend higher, largely on the heels of favorable second-quarter earnings releases," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

"At present, equities are in an earnings-driven market and earnings are surprising to the upside, providing valuation support for stocks at or near all-time highs."

The S&P 500 is trading at around 18 times earnings estimates for the next 12 months, well above its long-term average of 15 times.

At the same time, earnings of S&P 500 companies are now expected to have climbed 11.4 percent in the second quarter, up from an 8 percent rise estimated at the start of the month, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Dow e-minis were down 1 point, or 0 percent, with 20,365 contracts changing hands at 8:32 a.m. ET (1232 GMT).

S&P 500 e-minis were down 1 point, or 0.04 percent, with 137,723 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 7 points, or 0.12 percent, on volume of 33,594 contracts.

Investors are also keeping an eye on the economic data for clues on the health of the economy ahead of the keenly awaited monthly payrolls data on Friday.

The Labor Department data showed weekly jobless claims fell last week pointing to a tightening labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell to 240,000, below the 242,000 claims expected by economists.

Shares of Tesla jumped 6.58 percent in premarket trading after the luxury electric car maker said its quarterly revenue more than doubled.

Aetna rose 4.69 percent and Regeneron 4.15 percent after the healthcare companies posted strong quarterly reports.

U.S.-listed shares of Israeli drugs company Teva slumped 16 percent after it reported a steeper-than-expected drop in second-quarter earnings and cut its interim dividend.

Yum Brands fell 1.72 percent after the owner of KFC and Taco Bell reported a lower-than expected rise in quarterly sales at established restaurants worldwide.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)