US open: Stocks mixed as corporate earnings continue to roll in
Wall Street trading got off to a mixed start on Wednesday, with more corporate earnings and comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in focus at the open.
As of 1535 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.07% at 34,109.04, while the S&P 500 was 0.19% firmer at 4,172.48 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.31% stronger at 13,675.35.
The Dow opened 23.99 points lower on Wednesday, reversing gains recorded yesterday in what was an otherwise losing session for major indices.
Comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that an interest rate hike was neither something she was "predicting or recommending" were lending some support to stocks after a previous statement that "it may be that interest rates have to rise somewhat" in order to stop the US' post-covid economy from overheating had panicked investors.
Earnings from Activision Blizzard and Lyft were in focus early on Wednesday, with the video games developer stock jumping 3.77% after beating quarterly earnings expectations, while the ride-hailing firm slumped 3.17% in early trading despite posting some better-than-expected earnings overnight.
Elsewhere, General Motors said it expects a strong first half despite flagging production disruptions as a result of a global shortage of semiconductor chips, while hotel operator Hilton Worldwide missed quarterly earnings per share and revenue estimates in its most recent set of results.
Still to come, Etsy will report earnings later on Wednesday.
On the macro front, weekly mortgage applications fell 0.9% in the seven days ended 30 April, according to the Mortgage Bankers' Association, as the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances moved ever so slightly higher to 3.18% from 3.17%.
Elsewhere, US private payrolls grew by 742,000 in April, according to the ADP's national employment report, while data for March was revised higher to show 565,000 jobs being added - a further improvement on the initially reported figure of 517,000. However, Wednesday's number was still short of economists' expectations for a print of 800,000.
The ISM's non-manufacturing PMI for April dropped to 62.7, down from 63.7 and below expectation for a print of 64.3, with business activity/production dropping 6.7 to 62.7 and new orders slipping 4.0 to 63.2 as employment rose 1.6 to 58.8 and prices increased 2.8 to 76.8.
Lastly, IHS Markit's services purchasing managers index came in at 64.7 for April, ahead of the projected reading of 63.3.
Federal Reserve presidents Charles Evans, Eric Rosengren and Loretta Mester will all deliver comments throughout the course of the day.