Wall Street hovers near all-time highs with solid performances from top-tier companies

PepsiCo shares inched up less than 1% after the snack and beverage giant reported better-than-expected revenue in the third quarter despite weaker demand for its snacks and drinks in North America. PepsiCo's net income fell 11% to $2.6 billion, but adjusted for one-time items the company earned $2.29 per share, beating analysts’ forecasts by 3 cents.

Delta Air Lines easily topped Wall Street expectations for third quarter profit. Delta expects recent momentum to carry through the end of the year and forecast full-year profit of $6 per share, in the upper half of its previous guidance range. Delta shares rose 5.8% in premarket, lifting other major airlines' shares along with it. United rose 3.9% and American jumped 4.9%.

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, the maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy, announced that it was acquiring San Francisco's Akero Therapeutics for $4.7 billion in cash. Shares of Akero, a clinical-stage drug developer, jumped 18% before markets opened.

Trading has been relatively muted recently following the U.S. government’s latest shutdown. The closure is delaying the release of several major economic reports that usually move the market. Stocks have been drifting without them or other signals to change expectations for cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve, one of the major reasons the stock market has been on a tear since April.

Oil prices fell after Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to pause fighting in Gaza so that the remaining hostages there can be freed in the coming days in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The acceptance of elements of a plan put forward by the Trump administration represents the biggest breakthrough in months in the devastating two-year-old war and reduced risks in the volatile region.

U.S. benchmark crude dipped 21 cents to $62.34 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged down 18 cents to $66.07 per barrel.

Gold shed some of its stellar gains but was still at $4,054.50 per ounce as of Thursday morning in the U.S.

Elsewhere, European shares were mixed at midday while most Asian stocks rose.

Germany's DAX added 0.6% while France's CAC 40 gained 0.4%. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2% as sentiments were weighed by banking and housing stocks.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.8%, closing at 48,580.44. Technology giant SoftBank Group surged over 11% after it announced a $5.4 billion deal to acquire the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged down 0.3% to 26,740.37, while the Shanghai Composite index added 1.3% to 3,933.97 in its first trading session since Oct. 1.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up nearly 0.3% to 8,969.80 while Taiwan's Taiex pared earlier bigger gains, closing 0.9% higher.