US stocks have opened mixed after a deluge of earnings reports gave conflicting signals about the state of the economy.

Five minutes into trade on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 47.54 (0.33 per cent) to 14,489.60.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 3.65 (0.24 per cent) to 1,545.26 while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index put on 8.09 (0.26 per cent) to 3,174.45.

Earnings reports from IBM and McDonald’s missed expectations, while technology heavyweights Google and Microsoft outperformed analyst forecasts.