Toward the end of trading Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.06 percent to 18,879.85 while the NASDAQ gained 0.69 percent to 5,331.24. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.44 percent to 2,186.58.

Top Headline

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) reported mixed results for its third quarter.

Wal-Mart said it earned $0.98 per share in the quarter on revenue of $117.2 billion. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.96 per share on revenue of $118.7 billion.

Revenue for the quarter rose 0.7 percent from a year ago while U.S. comp sales rose 1.2 percent, driven by a traffic increase of 0.7 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Childrens Place Inc (NASDAQ: PLCE) shares shot up 13 percent to $99.00 after the company reported upbeat Q3 results.

Shares of Global Ship Lease Inc (NYSE: GSL) got a boost, shooting up 19 percent to $2.38 after gaining 28.21 percent on Wednesday.

Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE: WNR) shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $37.27 as Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) announced plans to buy Western Refining for $37.30 per share in a stock transaction.

Equities Trading DOWN

Stage Stores Inc (NYSE: SSI) shares dropped 19 percent to $4.68 as the company reported a wider-than-expected Q3 loss and issued a weak earnings forecast for the current quarter.

Shares of Stein Mart, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT) were down 18 percent to $5.56 after the company reported weak results for its third quarter.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.54 percent to $46.35 while gold traded down 0.58 percent to $1,216.80.

Silver traded down 0.87 percent Thursday to $16.78, while copper rose 0.67 percent to $2.50.

Eurozone

European shares closed mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.63 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.92 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.03 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX gained 0.20 percent, and the French CAC 40 rose 0.59 percent while U.K. shares rose 0.67 percent.

Economics

The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in October, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.4 percent growth.

U.S. housing starts rose to an annual rate of 1.32 million in October, versus a revised 1.05 million in September. Economists expected a rate of 1.17 million for the month.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index declined to a reading of 7.6 in November, versus a reading of 9.7 in October. Economists were expecting a reading of 8.

Initial jobless claims dropped 19,000 to 235,000 in the latest week. Economists projected claims to total 257,000 in the week.

Supplies of natural gas increased 30 billion cubic feet for the week ended November 11, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans is set to speak in Chicago at 2:45 p.m. ET.

Data on money supply for the latest week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.