US close: Stocks mixed amid avalanche of earnings

Wall Street trading closed in a mixed state on Wednesday, as investors digested a slab of quarterly earnings reports.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.74% at 35,490.69 and the S&P 500 lost 0.51% to 4,551.68, while the Nasdaq Composite eked out gains of just 0.12 points to 15,235.84.

The Dow closed 266.19 points lower on Wednesday, reversing modest gains in the previous session that saw the blue-chip index register a new record close.

Wednesday's primary focus was corporate earnings, with a number of big-name US firms reporting throughout the course of the day.

First off, Bristol-Myers Squibb posted a 10% increase in quarterly revenues as sales grew amid increased research and development spending, and Kraft Heinz beat on both earnings and sales expectations.

Coca-Cola earnings topped estimates as consumers moved to drink more beverages outside of the home amid a reopening US economy, while Harley-Davidson third-quarter earnings blew past estimates after shipments topped expectations.

Boston Scientific narrowed its full-year guidance as quarterly profits topped expectations, Six Flags swung to a profit of $157.0m after welcoming 12.0m guests throughout the quarter, and Spotify recorded a profit of €2.0m during the quarter, up from a loss of €101.0m a year earlier, as average revenues per user increased from €4.29 to €4.34.

Carmaker General Motors beat Wall Street estimates with its third-quarter earnings and revenues on Wednesday and said its full-year results were now on track to be at the "high end" of previous guidance, while Boeing fell short of analysts' estimates for both its top and bottom lines by a wide margin.

Ford, Spirit Airlines, eBay and Netgear were in focus late in the session ahead of reporting after the close.

On the macro front, mortgage applications rose 0.3% in the week ended 22 October, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, a marked improvement when compared to the 6.3% decline seen a week earlier.

Elsewhere, orders in the US for goods made to last more than three years slipped last month, according to the Department of Commerce, with durable goods orders declining at a month-on-month pace of 0.4% to $261.3bn in September - better than the 1.0% drop economists had pencilled-in.

Dow Jones - Risers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $323.17 4.21%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $242.73 2.67%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $55.52 1.93%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $372.32 0.85%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $56.18 0.66%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $295.15 0.01%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $453.48 -0.26%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $148.85 -0.31%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Visa Inc. (V) $215.78 -6.92%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $56.00 -4.62%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $47.12 -2.46%
3M Co. (MMM) $178.24 -2.15%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $167.83 -2.08%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $112.07 -1.78%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $196.13 -1.76%
American Express Co. (AXP) $178.03 -1.61%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $410.99 -1.59%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $125.17 -1.54%

S&P 500 - Risers

Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) $29.82 8.48%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $216.02 5.94%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $180.85 5.22%
Masco Corp. (MAS) $64.26 5.21%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $2,924.35 4.96%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $2,928.55 4.84%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $323.17 4.21%
Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) $36.73 3.55%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $94.60 3.55%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $242.73 2.67%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Rollins Inc. (ROL) $35.08 -10.81%
Twitter Inc (TWTR) $54.81 -10.78%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $98.83 -10.02%
Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) $146.21 -8.79%
Global Payments Inc. (GPN) $144.13 -7.59%
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) $152.50 -7.49%
Visa Inc. (V) $215.78 -6.92%
Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) $114.21 -6.69%
News Corp Class B (NWS) $22.46 -6.42%
Discover Financial Services (DFS) $115.44 -6.16%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $180.85 5.22%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $2,924.35 4.96%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $2,928.55 4.84%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $323.17 4.21%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $94.60 3.55%
Marriott International - Class A (MAR) $159.80 2.41%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $1,037.86 1.91%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $604.39 1.87%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $100.35 1.47%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $221.95 1.44%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $98.83 -10.02%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $170.46 -5.24%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $187.10 -5.02%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $165.10 -4.53%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $259.95 -4.12%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $41.42 -3.74%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $9.85 -3.43%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $234.94 -3.32%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,500.00 -2.89%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $69.87 -2.86%