Markets Flat at Opening

Wall Street opened largely flat this morning, as the markets looked to reverse a poor week on a light trading day ahead of the long holiday weekend.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow, the broader S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were all neutral.

The markets got some surprise good news this morning from retailer Sears, which reported a swing to profitability in first-quarter earnings and the securing of $2.4 billion in new credit to fund future purchases.

As with many good first-quarter earnings this year, Sears profits came from cost-cutting, not sales. The company reported a $1 billion drop in revenue compared with the first quarter of 2008.

-- Frank Ahrens
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