US open: Dow trades lower as earnings take centre stage

dl wall street st new york city nyc nyse stock exchange ny dow jones nasdaq sp finance us usa united states of america — Wall StreetSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were mixed early on Wednesday as earnings remained firmly in focus.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.30% at 33,429.93, while the S&P 500 lost 0.08% to 4,068.21 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.75% firmer at 11,887.25.

The Dow opened 100.90 points lower on Wednesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session as market participants digested a number of earnings reports.

Stocks were mixed at the opening bell as traders zeroed in on tech earnings after Microsoft beat Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines in its recently wrapped-up trading quarter thanks to a marked increase in revenues from its intelligent cloud business segment, and Google parent company Alphabet reported better-than-anticipated revenues and maiden profits from its cloud unit.

Airplane manufacturer Boeing said on Wednesday that quarterly net losses had narrowed as revenues grew, driven by an improved performance in its commercial airplane unit, while Hilton Worldwide raised its full-year profit guidance amid robust travel demand throughout the first quarter.

Still to come, Facebook owner Meta Platforms, eBay, and Mattel will publish their latest quarterly numbers after the close of trading.

On the macro front, US mortgage applications rose 3.7% in the week ended 21 April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, bouncing back from an 8.8% drop in the previous week as applications to purchase a home grew 4.6%, while applications to refinance a home loan increased 1.7%

Elsewhere, orders for goods made to last more than three years easily outpaced forecasts in March, albeit chiefly due to a big rebound in the oft-volatile orders for jet aircraft. According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, durable goods orders jumped at a month-on-month pace of 3.2% to reach $276.41bn - well ahead of consensus estimates for a reading of 1.0%. Excluding the transportation sector, however, orders were up by a more modest 0.3% versus February. Driving last month's gain was a 78.4% gain in orders for non-defense aircraft and parts to $19.67bn.

On another note, America's shortfall on trade in goods with the rest of the world narrowed sharply and unexpectedly last month. According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, the visible trade deficit fell by 8.1% month-on-month to $84.6bn. Economists had pencilled-in a shortfall of -$90bn.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $293.98 6.74%
Boeing Co. (BA) $209.97 3.85%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $29.52 2.22%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $193.42 1.44%
Visa Inc. (V) $231.10 0.66%
3M Co. (MMM) $104.92 0.53%
American Express Co. (AXP) $156.72 0.38%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $52.60 0.19%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $177.65 0.19%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $98.14 0.13%