NEW YORK, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Tuesday as investors digested a batch of corporate earnings reports.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.32 points, or 0.05 percent, to 26,840.96. The S&P 500 rose 5.7 points, or 0.19 percent, to 3,012.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 18.91 points, or 0.23 percent, to 8,181.90.

Procter & Gamble on Tuesday posted strong quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations. Its core earnings per share increased 22 percent to 1.37 U.S. dollars and its net sales reached 17.8 billion dollars, up 7 percent from the prior year.

JetBlue, UPS and United Technologies also reported quarterly profits that topped analysts' expectations.

McDonald's posted GAAP diluted earnings per share of 2.11 dollars and consolidated revenues of 5.4 billion dollars, both missing analysts' expectations.

(Photo: VCG)