Stocks waver on sluggish GDP, mixed earnings

In corporate news, U.S. automaker Ford (F -1.85%) reported earnings of $1.4 billion, or 35 cents a share. Excluding certain items, the company's profit was 39 cents, more than the 35 cents analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected. Revenue was $32.4 billion, topping forecasts for $31.5 billion.

Merck (MRK -0.29%) shares were rising after the drug maker posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of 99 cents a share, 1 cent more than analysts expected.

Procter & Gamble (PG -3.23%) shares were losing value after the company lowered its full-year outlook to $3.82 to $3.88 a share from $3.93 to $4.03. Analysts on average were expecting profit of $3.96 a share.

Online retailer Amazon (AMZN +14.82%) topped analysts' earnings estimates and said profit margins held steady. Gross margin widened to 24% from 22.8% a year earlier. Amazon posted earnings of 28 cents a share as revenue rose 34% to $13.2 billion, thanks to strong Kindle Fire sales. Analysts had expected Amazon to report earnings of 7 cents a share on revenue of $12.9 billion.

Starbucks (SBUX -6.26%) said fiscal-second-quarter profit rose 18%, and raised its forecast for the year. Starbucks said global same-store sales rose 7% in the period, but sales fell 1% in Europe, Middle East, Russia and Africa, raising concerns among investors.

London's FTSE was up 0.5% and Germany's DAX was up 1%. Italy sold 6.25 billion euros ($8.27 billion) of bonds, close to the maximum amount planned. Still, the average yield on the 10-year bonds rose to 5.84% from 5.24% in March, reflecting investors’ concerns about Italy’s ability to repay its debt.

European stocks were losing ground earlier after Spain's credit rating was downgraded by two notches to BBB+ by Standard & Poor's. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.33%, and Japan's Nikkei Average closed 0.43% lower.

The June crude oil contract was falling 35 cents at $104.20 a barrel. The June gold contract was down $5.40 to $1,655.10 an ounce.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was rising 4/32, pushing the yield down to 1.927. The greenback was trading sideways against a basket of currencies, according to the dollar index.