Investing.com – Wall Street traded with mixed signs on Wednesday as investors continued to chew over corporate earnings and oil pared losses after a surprise inventory draw.
At 12:01AM ET (16:01GMT), the Dow Jones gained 48 points, or 0.27%, the S&P 500 slipped less than a point, or 0.01% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded down 15 points, or 0.29%.
Amid blue-chip earnings, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the big disappointment, leading the decliners on the Dow with losses of nearly 3%. The electronic gadget maker reported its third successive quarter of declining iPhone sales and forecast slimmer-than-expected profit margins over the upcoming holiday season.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) was on the opposite end of the index with gains of 3% after the world’s biggest plane maker reported better-than-expected profit and increased its full-year forecast.
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) also managed to eke out gains of 0.4% after its revenue beat on higher soda prices in North America.
Meanwhile, oil continued to trade lower on Wednesday, though losses were pared as U.S. crude inventories showed a surprise draw.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 553,000 barrels in the week ended October 21.
Market analysts' expected a crude-stock gain of 1.69 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply increase of 4.8 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures lost 0.92% to $49.50 by 12:03AM ET (16:03GMT), while Brent oil traded down 1.24% to $50.16.
On the macro data front, activity in the U.S. services sector unexpectedly rose in October, boosting confidence in the American economy.
In a report, market research group Markit said that its flash services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 54.8 in October, from the prior month’s reading of 52.3.
Analysts had expected the reading to remain unchanged.
Additionally, new home sales registered an unexpected increase in September, but that was due to downward revision to the prior month’s data.
In lesser reports, the goods trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in September, while wholesale inventories increased slightly more than forecast.
With the Federal Reserve (Fed) currently in a blackout period, market participants are gauging economic reports in order to adjust expectations for the next rate.
Odds of policy tightening for the decision next week were only at 8.3%, with the chance for an increase at the December meeting at a solid 78.3%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.