WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved mostly higher early in the session on
Wednesday but have given back ground over the course of the trading day. The
major averages have pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the
Dow and the S&P 500 slipping into negative territory.

Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the
Nasdaq is up 24.59 points or 0.2 percent at 15,721.23, the Dow is down 119.17
points or 0.3 percent at 38,384.52 and the S&P 500 is down 8.59 points or 0.2
percent at 5,061.96.

A positive reaction to the latest corporate earnings news initially contributed
to an extended rebound on Wall Street following the considerable weakness seen
last week.

Shares of Tesla (TSLA) remain up by 11.3 percent even though the electric
vehicle maker reported weaker than expected first quarter results.

The surge by Tesla comes after CEO Elon Musk said the company plans to start
production of a new affordable model by early 2025.

Semiconductor company Texas Instruments (TXN) is also seeing significant
strength after reporting first quarter results that beat expectations on both
the top and bottom lines.

Shares of Visa (V), Boeing (BA) and Mattel (MAT) have also moved to the upside
after the companies reported better than expected quarterly results.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, with traders
potentially reluctant to make significant moves ahead of more big-name tech
earnings in the coming days.

IBM Corp. (IBM) and Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) are among the
companies due to report their quarterly results after the close of today's
trading.

Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT) are also among
the companies due to report their quarterly results after the close of trading
on Thursday.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing
new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods surged by more than expected in
the month of March.

The report said durable goods orders soared by 2.6 percent in March after
climbing by a downwardly revised 0.7 percent in February.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to spike by 2.3 percent compared to
the 1.3 percent jump that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding a surge in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders
crept up by 0.2 percent in March after inching up by 0.1 percent in February.
Ex-transportation orders were expected to rise by 0.3 percent.

Sector News

Transportation stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside on the day,
dragging the Dow Jones Transportation Average down by 2.5 percent.

Considerable weakness has also emerged among housing stocks, as reflected by the
1.4 percent loss being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.

Pharmaceutical and retail stocks have also moved lower, while semiconductor
stocks are turning in a strong performance following the upbeat results from
Texas Instruments.

Reflecting the strength in the semiconductor sector, the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index has jumped by 1.6 percent on the day.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly
higher during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 2.4
percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved modestly lower on the day.
While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40
Index is down by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are under pressure following the advance seen in
the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note,
which moves opposite of its price, is up by 6.2 basis points at 4.660 percent.



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