U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday as investors pondered over a batch of quarterly earnings results amid economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30.06 points, or 0.17 percent, to 18,199.33. The S&P 500 fell 3.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,139.43.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 33.13 points, or 0.63 percent, to 5,250.27. After Tuesday's closing bell, Apple Inc. reported that its sales of smartphones, tablet computers and personal computers were down in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2016 compared with the same period a year ago.
The tech giant announced quarterly revenues of 46.9 billion U.S. dollars and quarterly net income of 9 billion dollars, down from 51.5 billion dollars and 11.1 billion dollars respectively from the same quarter last year. Its shares dropped 2.25 percent to 115.59 dollars apiece Wednesday after the release.
Shares of Coca-Cola Co. inched down 0.60 percent to 144.47 dollars apiece Wednesday after the soft drink giant reported third-quarter revenues slightly better than expected.
The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the third quarter of 2016 are expected to rise 2.2 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 2.8 percent.
On the economic front, the U.S. international trade deficit was 56.1 billion dollars in September, down 3.1 billion dollars from the August reading, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
In a separate report, the department announced that U.S. sales of new single-family houses in September 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 593,000. This is 3.1 percent above the revised August rate and is 29.8 percent above the September 2015 estimate.
"The combination of tight supply, rising prices and still stagnant wage growth is likely to keep new home sales growth slow and gradual, consequently restraining the housing market' s contribution to growth," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial.
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