Stocks end mixed after weeklong rally; Apple jumps but Advanced Micro, Wells Fargo disappoint

Mixed earnings put brakes on stock market rally

NEW YORK — Investors aren’t giving up on the stock market’s rally, but they’re not making big bets either.

Stocks ended a quiet day mixed Wednesday as traders were hesitant to commit more money to the market after a weeklong surge. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped, while the Nasdaq composite index rose.

A mix of earnings reports drove trading. Apple Inc. and Starbucks Inc. jumped on their results, but chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and big bank Wells Fargo & Co. slid.

The market’s incremental moves weren’t surprising after strong earnings reports for the April-June quarter lifted major stock indicators up more than 8 percent in just seven days. The gains reignited a rally that ran from early March through mid-June before stalling as signs of improvement in the economy started to dry up.

Analysts say it’s not surprising to see the market slow its climb as investors raise their expectations.

“As the earnings season goes on, it becomes more difficult because the bar goes higher and higher,” said John Canally, economist at LPL Financial in Boston.

The Dow fell 34.68, or 0.4 percent, to 8,881.26. The broader S&P 500 index slipped 0.51, or 0.1 percent, to 954.07, and the Nasdaq rose 10.18, or 0.5 percent, to 1,926.38, helped by Apple and Starbucks. It was the 11th straight gain for the Nasdaq.

Major market indexes seesawed Wednesday as they had a day earlier. Stocks pushed higher Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy was recovering, though at a slow pace.

Earnings reports directed trading Wednesday. Apple rose $5.23, or 3.5 percent, to $156.74 after robust sales of laptops and iPhones pushed its profit and revenue above what analysts had expected.

Starbucks surged $2.70, or 18.4 percent, to $17.39 after the coffee chain shut stores, laid off workers and cut other costs to produce fiscal third-quarter results that topped expectations.

Advanced Micro Devices fell 53 cents, or 13 percent, to $3.55 after its second-quarter loss narrowed less than analysts expected.

Wells Fargo joined other banks in reporting that losses from bad loans kept rising although its second-quarter earnings rose 47 percent. The stock fell 90 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $24.45.

Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.55 percent from 3.48 percent late Tuesday.

The dollar was mixed, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell 21 cents to settle at $65.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Advancing stocks outpaced those that fell by 4-to-3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 4.7 billion shares compared with 5.2 billion Tuesday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.48, or 0.7 percent, to 528.70.

Overseas, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent, Germany’s DAX index gained 0.5 percent, and France’s CAC-40 added 0.1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.7 percent.