NEW YORK – Wall Street stumbled through a lopsided session Wednesday, closing mixed as profit warnings and news from blue-chip names Alcoa Inc. and Boeing Co. dragged down the Dow Jones industrial average but largely spared technology stocks.
A pullback was to be expected after the Dow and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished at new highs Tuesday amid enthusiasm over comments from Federal Reserve policymakers about interest rates, but corporate news appeared to hasten Wednesday’s slide.
With investors thumbing through fresh quarterly results and corporate announcements, the latest economic readings did little to dislodge the dichotomy between blue chips and tech stocks. A report showed inventories among U.S. wholesalers ticked up in August, while a trade group for real-estate agents warned that the drop in resales of homes this year will be steeper than had been expected.
The market’s uneven but still relatively calm trading Wednesday followed a surge the day before that was sparked by release of the minutes from the Fed’s last meeting. Wall Street initially was ebullient that the Fed didn’t appear to rule out further rate cuts, but, on reflection, some investors seemed to be questioning whether that response was a little too optimistic.
“People are looking backward at what the Fed was discussing to try and discern whether or not we’re in a recession,” said Kim Caughey, equity-research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. “Looking in the rearview mirror isn’t going to give us that clarity because it’s history, so instead I’m really looking forward to what corporate earnings will show.”
The Dow fell 85.84, or 0.61 percent, to 14,078.69 after rising 120 points Tuesday.
Broader stock indicators were mixed. The S&P 500 fell 2.68, or 0.17 percent, to 1,562.47, and the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index rose 7.70, or 0.27 percent, to 2,811.61.
Wednesday’s session came as investors tried to determine what the Fed will do when it meets Oct. 30-31.
Boeing fell $2.77, or 2.7 percent, to $98.68 after announcing it was delaying initial deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner commercial aircraft by six months.
Alcoa disappointed investors after it reported a smaller-than-expected 3 percent profit, while revenue fell.
International Paper lowered its projection for how much it expects to take in from sales of land in the third quarter. And Chevron warned that third- quarter profit will come in well below the $5.4 billion it earned in the second quarter.
