Despite a plethora of corporate earnings and rising hopes for Greece's debt crisis, the US stock market closed Wednesday's trading in a negative zone. A day after notching its biggest gain of the year, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.12 percent or 15.51 points to end at 12,571.91 today. The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. composite index fell 0.43 percent or 12.29 points to finish at 2,814.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 0.07 percent or 0.89 points to settle at 1,325.84. Among other major indexes, the New York Stock Exchange composite index added 0.33 percent or 27.45 points to end at 8,281.83. The American Stock Exchange composite index gained 0.60 percent or 14.25 points to settle at 2,401.47.
Hot Stocks of the Day: WFC, GOOG, INTC, EBAY, QCOM
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) has agreed to pay a record $85 million in fine to settle Federal Reserve claims that the former steered borrowers into costlier loans. Shares of WFC added 1.02 percent or 29 cents to close at $28.70.
Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) had preliminary talks with InterDigital Inc. about a possible acquisition of the wireless technology developer. Shares of Google were down 1.19 percent or $7.20 to close at $595.35.
Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) reported 22 percent increase in its fiscal second quarter revenue to $13.1 billion, above analysts estimate of $12.83 billion. During the quarter, the company's non-GAAP net income was $3.2 billion, or 59 cents per share, up 10 percent above its previous year close. Shares were down 0.30 percent or 7 cents to end at $22.99.
eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) registered net income of $283.4 million, or 22 cents per share in its fiscal second quarter, down from $412 million, or 31 cents a year earlier. Analysts had forecasted earnings of 46 cents per share for the company. During the quarter, revenue was $2.8 billion, up 25 percent from the second quarter of 2010. Shares slipped 1.75 percent or 59 cents to settle at $33.17.
Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) registered an increase in its fiscal third quarter net profit to $1.035 billion, or 61 cents per share, from $767 million, or 47 cents per share a year earlier. During the quarter, the company's revenue rose to $3.62 billion from $2.7 billion. Analysts had estimated revenue of $3.59 billion.