NEW YORK — A surprisingly strong housing report helped push the stock market mostly higher Wednesday, while weak earnings reports from Intel and IBM weighed on the Dow Jones industrial average.
NEW YORK — A surprisingly strong housing report helped push the stock market mostly higher Wednesday, while weak earnings reports from Intel and IBM weighed on the Dow Jones industrial average.
The Dow edged up 5.22 points to close at 13,557, barely managing its fourth straight day of gains. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 5.99 points to 1,460.91.
Better results from Mat-tel, Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson shot the stock market higher Tuesday. For the week, the Dow is up 1.7 percent and the S&P 500 is up 2.3 percent.
Heading into this earnings season, FedEx, Caterpillar and other global heavyweights had warned investors that China’s slowing economy and Europe’s ongoing debt crisis would weigh on quarterly profits.
Analysts still expect that third-quarter earnings for companies in the S&P 500 will shrink for the first time since 2009.
IBM reported sales late Tuesday that missed Wall Street’s expectations. On a call with analysts, IBM’s chief financial officer said the company faced “more challenging” market conditions in September, the final month of the quarter, as cautious customers and a weakening euro undercut its results. IBM’s stock sank $10.37 to $200.63.
Intel warned that sales of personal computers will likely remain weak during the holiday season this year. The chip-maker cut its revenue estimates for the year-end quarter when it reported results late Tuesday. Intel’s stock fell 56 cents to $21.79.
The Commerce Depart-ment said Wednesday that builders broke ground on building new single-family houses and apartments at the fastest pace since July 2008. Housing starts surged to an annual rate of 872,000 in September, far above estimates by economists.
In other trading, the Nasdaq composite index inched up 2.95 points to 3,104.12.