Stocks close mixed on latest earnings reports

Stocks closed mixed Thursday as investors went over the latest batch of company earnings reports. Keurig Green Mountain and Twenty-First Century Fox were among the winners after reporting earnings, while electric carmaker Tesla slumped.

At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 32.4 or 0.2 percent, to 16,551. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 2.6 points at 1,875.6, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 16.2 points, 0.4 percent, to 4,051.5.

WINNERS AND LOSERS: Keurig Green Mountain closed up $11.98, or 12.9 percent, at $104.19 after the company reported earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates. Twenty-First Century Fox gained $2.08, or 6.6 percent, to close at $33.48 after the company reported earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations.

Electric carmaker Tesla Motors fell $22.76, or 11.3 percent, to $178.59, after the company reported a $49.8 million first-quarter loss late Wednesday.

DOW RECORD: After trading in the red for most of the year, the Dow Jones industrial average has pared its losses and is trading at record levels. The index of blue-chip stocks has gained as investors have sold small companies and growth-oriented technology stocks. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks small company stocks, is down 4.7 percent this year.

Investors typically buy companies with steady revenues that pay dividends when they are worried that the stock market is going to fall.

"The small stocks, the little names, clearly are cracking, whereas the defensive names, the higher-yielding names, are leading," said Ryan Detrick, a senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's investment research. "Historically, that's not a sign of a healthy market."