Dow posts 7th straight record high amid earnings, data

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial

Average posting its seventh straight record close, as investors digested

a batch of corporate earnings report and economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 9.86 points, or 0.04

percent, to 22,026.10. The S&P 500 shed 5.41 points, or 0.22

percent, to 2,472.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 22.30 points, or

0.35 percent, to 6,340.34.

The Dow has risen over 11 percent and recorded three 1,000-points

milestones in 2017. The benchmark climbed above 22,000 on Wednesday,

lifted by strong earnings from Apple.

In corporate news, shares of Tesla rallied 6.51 percent on Thursday,

after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500

companies' blended earnings in the second quarter of 2017 are expected

to rise 11.8 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to

increase 5.0 percent.

Meanwhile, investors also turned their eyes to a slew of economic

data, as they tried to find clues on when the Federal Reserve might

start the balance sheet reduction.

In the week ending July 29, the advance figure for seasonally

adjusted initial claims was 240,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the

previous week's revised level, according to the U.S. Labor Department

Thursday.

The U.S. non-manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in

July, while businesses surveyed remained optimistic about their business

conditions.

The Non-Manufacturing Index, which measures activity in the U.S.

service sector, registered 53.9 in July, down 3.5 points from June's

reading of 57.4, the Institute for Supply Management said in its monthly

survey on Thursday.