(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)Wall Street trimmed most of its earlier losses to finish flat on Wednesday as investors braced for the latest round of quarterly earnings from the corporate sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.81 points or 0.18% to finish at 8,178.41. The S&P 500 retreated 1.47 points or 0.17% to end at 879.56. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1 point or 0.06% to 1,747.17.
Among Dow components, General Electric (NYSE:
GE) slumped 30 cents or 2.72% to 10.71.
Shares of Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) lost 31 cents or 2.55% to end at $11.84.
Verizon Corp. (NYSE:
VZ) retreated 53 cents or 1.79% to $28.65. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) dropped 38 cents or 1.56% to $23.54.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:
INTC) plummeted 31 cents or 1.91% to $15.94.
Among gainers, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:
JNJ) rose 85 cents or 1.51% to $57.08. Shares of Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) added 42 cents or 1.52% to $28.04.
Second-quarter earnings season kicked off Wednesday with Alcoa (NYSE:
AA),
which released earnings report after the market's close. Alcoa's second quarter loss totaled $454 million or 47 cents a share compared to profit of $546 million, or 66 cents a share in the year-ago period.Excluding restructuring charges, Alcoa's loss in the latest quarter would have been 26 cents per share. Revenue plunged 41% to $4.24 billion.Shares of Alcoa finished at $9.46, up 5 cents or 0.53% in regular trading.
Meanwhile, the IMF said Wednesday that it expects the world economy to contract by 1.4 percent this year, slightly worse than its prior forecast of 1.3 percent. However, it boosted its estimate for global economic growth in 2010 to 2.5 percent, up from its earlier projection of 1.9 percent.
Search giant Google (NASDAQ:
GOOG) announced Tuesday that it will launch a new operating system called Google Chrome Operating System in the second half of 2010. Shares of Google added $5.86 or 1.48% to close at $402.49.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE:
FDO) said Wednesday that fiscal third-quarter net income jumped 36% to $87.7 million, or 62 cents a share, from $64.7 million, or 46 cents a share in the prior year period.Shares of the company soared $3.43 or 12.36% to $31.18.
Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE:
PBG) reported that second-quarter net income rose to $211 million, or 96 cents a share, from $174 million, or 78 cents a share, in the year earlier period. Revenue declined to $3.27 billion from $3.52 billion.Shares of Pepsi Bottling Group finished at $33.53, down 12 cents or 0.36%.
NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE:
NRG) said Wednesday it has rejected Exelon Corp.'s (NYSE: EXC) revised hostile takeover bid of $8 billion in stock saying that increased offer doesn't yet value NRG properly. Last week Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear power company, sweetened its offer by about $1 billion citing newly identified cost savings.NRG Energy surged $1.27 or 5.75% to $23.35.
Shares of Amgen (NYSE:
AMGN) jumped $7.27 or 13.92% to $59.50 on Wednesday after the biotech company said a late-stage trial of a drug showed that it was better at reducing or delaying bone problems in breast-cancer patients.
European stocks settled with losses. The UK FTSE slipped 46.77 points or 1.12% to 4,140.23. The German DAX and French CAC subtracted 0.56% and 1.27% respectively.
Asian stocks finished lower. The Nikkei 225 declined 227.04 points or 2.35% to 9,420.75. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong fell 141.20 points or 0.79% to end at 17,721.077.
NYMEX crude oil for August delivery declined $2.79 or 4.4% to settle at $60.14 a barrel.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
