At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 45.82 points, or 0.17 percent, to 27,628.98. The S&P 500 rose 0.63 points, or 0.02 percent, to 3,085.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 17.55 points, or 0.21 percent, to 8,452.07.
More than half of the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow traded lower around midday, with shares of Verizon Communications down nearly 1.9 percent, leading the losers.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded lower around midday, with the energy sector down nearly 1 percent, leading the losers.
Shares of Walt Disney rose over 3.3 percent, after the entertainment giant reported third-quarter earnings that came above market estimates.
Its studio entertainment revenue surged 52 percent as prompted by robust movie box office performance.
The currently solid corporate earnings season has also underpinned Wall Street. So far, of the 425 S&P 500 companies that have reported quarterly earnings, 74 percent have topped analysts' forecast, CNBC quoted FactSet as saying.
U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday, as Wall Street remained optimistic due to the potential for easing U.S.-China trade tensions and the market boosted by the latest jobs data.
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