By Tanya Agrawal
(Reuters) - Strong results from Facebook and a flurry of dealmaking helped U.S. stocks pare early losses caused by a surprising decision by the Bank of Japan to hold off from expanding monetary stimulus.
Facebook jumped as much as 10.9 percent to a record of $120.79, a day after the company reported a 50 percent rise in revenue. The stock provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
St. Jude Medical soared 25.1 percent to $77.47 after Abbott Laboratories said it agreed to buy the medical device maker for $25 billion. Abbott was down 7.3 percent at $40.66.
DreamWorks Animation was up 24.2 percent at $39.99, after Comcast said it will buy the company for $3.8 billion. Comcast was up 0.8 percent at $61.84.
The BOJ's decision to hold steady in the face of soft global demand and a rise in the yen was particularly jarring for markets after media reports that the central bank wanted to go deeper into negative interest rates.
The decision comes a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to hold steady on rates and after fears eased that the Fed would signal a rise in June.
"While the central banks will continue to have an enormous impact on the market, the weaker dollar and stronger crude oil prices will support gains in the market," said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at SunTrust Private Wealth Management.
The U.S. stock market is on its second-longest bull run ever. The S&P 500, which is less than 2 percent away from its record high, has rallied 15 percent since February, helped by a recovery in oil prices and an accommodating Fed.
The Fed's accommodative policy is set to continue with traders pricing in only one rate hike this year, according to CME Group's FedWatch.
At 11:04 a.m. ET (1504 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was down 30.3 points, or 0.17 percent, at 18,011.25, the S&P 500 was up 1.39 points, or 0.07 percent, at 2,096.54 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 22.80 points, or 0.47 percent, at 4,885.94.
Seven of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with the telecommunications index's 0.54 percent fall leading the decliners.
Data on Thursday showed that U.S. economic growth braked sharply to its slowest pace in two years as consumer spending softened. Gross domestic product increased at a 0.5 percent, below the 0.7 percent increase expected by economists polled by Reuters.
Domino's Pizza fell 7.8 percent to $123.44 after its results missed estimates, while Ford was up 3.3 percent at $14.11 after its net income more than doubled.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,405 to 1,388. On the Nasdaq, 1,386 issues rose and 1,214 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 15 new 52-week highs and 1 new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 42 new highs and 12 new lows.
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