WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks turned in a lackluster performance during
trading on Wednesday following the strong upward move seen to start the week.
After moving to the upside early in the session, the major averages spent the
day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow edged
down 42.77 points or 0.1 percent to 38,460.92, the S&P 500 crept up 1.08 points
or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,071.63 and the Nasdaq inched up 16.11
points or 0.1 percent to 15,712.75.

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) spiked by 12.1 percent even though the electric vehicle
maker reported weaker than expected first quarter results.

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

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

Shares of Visa (V) and Mattel (MAT) 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
still worried about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal
Reserve meeting.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will
be looking for clues about the possibility of future rate cuts.

Later this week, the Commerce Department is due to release a report on personal
income and spending that includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by
the Fed.

Traders may also have been 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 showed a substantial move to the downside on the day,
dragging the Dow Jones Transportation Average down by 2.3 percent.

Considerable weakness was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the
1.2 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.

Pharmaceutical and retail stocks also saw some weakness, while semiconductor
stocks turned in a strong performance following the upbeat results from Texas
Instruments.

Reflecting the strength in the semiconductor sector, the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index climbed by 1.1 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 moved modestly lower on the day. While the
German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2
percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries came 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, climbed 5.4 basis points to 4.652 percent.

Looking Ahead

Earnings news may attract attention on Thursday, while traders are also likely
to keep an eye on reports on first quarter GDP, weekly jobless claims and
pending home sales.



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