Walmart results send US stocks back to record territory

US stocks opened back in record territory Thursday after Wednesday's pause, spurred by strong results from Walmart and Berkshire Hathaway's $4.7 billion takeover of Duracell.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 49.10 points (0.28 percent) to 17,661.30.
The broad-market S&P 500 added 4.04 (0.20 percent) to 2,042.29, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 20.56 (0.44 percent) at 4,695.70.
Warren Buffett's cash-laden investment house Berkshire said it would pay Procter & Gamble $4.7 billion worth of P&G shares to take over Duracell.
The company reportedly has 25 percent of the global battery market with $2 billion in annual sales.
As part of the deal, P&G is committed to inject $1.8 billion into Duracell to recapitalize it.
Berkshire B shares rose 0.3 percent to $146.01 in opening trade Thursday, while P&G lost 0.5 percent to $89.06.
Wal-Mart Stores shares surged 3.3 percent on forecast-beating third-quarter earnings. The huge retailer overcame a fall in US store traffic with price rises and strong gains in its small Neighborhood Market chain to turn in earnings per share of $1.15, three cents higher than analysts expected.
In major tech shares, Amazon and Apple were both up 1.2 percent.
Bond prices were lower. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.39 percent from 2.36 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year rose to 3.09 percent from 3.08 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.