Investing.com – Wall Street was mixed on Wednesday after earnings from Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) caused hesitation over the impact of the U.S.-China trade war.
The Dow was up 51 points or 0.2% by 9:43 AM ET (13:43 GMT), while the S&P 500 was flat and the NASDAQ Composite inched down 3 points or 0.1%.
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) recovered from an initial dip to be down only 1.1% on some bottom-fishing, as investors sensed a bargain after the shares fell by over one-third since the beginning of 2018. The bellweather construction company said it expected further inventory reduction in the fourth quarter and slashed its earnings per share guidance by over 10%. But that wasn't bad enough to deter those who think an end to the worst of the trade war with China is in sight.
Elsewhere, Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) was down 8.7% after its forecast for the full year came in much worse than expected, increasing concerns about the global semiconductor industry in light of the long-running U.S.-China trade war. Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) slumped 5.5% after flat U.S. sales caused its revenue to come in below forecasts.
"What I think is causing the hesitation is the fear of other bellwether companies also disappointing," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) jumped 2.7% after it said it expects its 737 MAX jet to return to service in the fourth quarter. Still, most airlines have cut flights of the jet until early 2020. Technology stocks rallied, with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) up 1.4%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) gaining 0.9% and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) jumping 1.8%.
Nike fell 1.6% after saying chief executive Mark Parker would step down early year after a 14-year stint. He'll stay on as executive chairman.
Nike (NYSE:NKE) fell 1.6% after saying chief executive Mark Parker would step down early year after a 14-year stint. He'll stay on as executive chairman.
In commodities, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 97.295 and gold futures gained 0.6% to $1,496.45 a troy ounce. Crude oil futures dipped 0.4% to $54.25 a barrel.
-Reuters contributed to this report