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Stocks traded along the flat line on Wednesday as a decline in technology stocks offset strong quarterly earnings from some of the biggest U.S. companies.
The Dow Jones Industrials pointed upward 19.74 points to begin Wednesday at 25,139.63, with Walgreens Boots Alliance outperforming.
The S&P 500 dipped 1.92 points to 2,807.63, as industrials rose 0.8%
The NASDAQ doffed 26.88 points to 7,828.24
Shares of Alphabet fell 0.3% after the European Union fined Google $5 billion over antitrust abuse. Netflix fell 0.7%, slipping for the second day in a row after posting weaker-than-expected subscriber growth for the previous quarter. Amazon shares fell 0.1% after Prime Day concluded.
Tech's decline comes in the middle of the latest corporate earnings season. Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the previous quarter, boosted by strong trading and investment banking revenue. The bank’s stock rose more than 3.3%
Transports CSX and United Continental also posted stronger-than-forecast profits and sales, sending CSX’s shares higher by 5.6% and United’s gained 8%.
American Express, eBay and IBM are among the companies scheduled to report earnings after the close.
U.S. housing starts fell 12% in June to a nine-month low, the Commerce Department said. The percentage drop was also the biggest since
November 2016. According to Bespoke Investment Group, it was the biggest miss relative to expectations since January 2007. The Mortgage Bankers Association said.mortgage applications also fell 2.5% last week.
Home building stocks fell on the back of the data, as KB Home and Lennar both fell more than 1%.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Tuesday’s 2.86%.
Oil prices lost 69 cents to $67.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $4.30 at $1,228.10 U.S. an ounce.
