Wall Street pauses on downbeat earnings

Wall Street was slightly lower on Wednesday after a barrage of lackluster earnings reports from companies, including AT&T, and Dow component Boeing weighed after revealing a surprise charge in the latest quarter.

AT&T fell 2.12 percent and was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 index after the U.S. No. 2 wireless carrier`s quarterly results missed estimates.

Boeing fell about 1 percent after it booked a charge related to its troubled KC-46 aerial refueling tanker.

The declines come after the Dow closed at another record high on Tuesday led by gains in industrial giants Caterpillar and 3M.

The earnings season has been largely positive, with more than 70 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far beating profit expectations.

"The market is looking for additional fuel to continue the drive higher, whether it comes in the form of earnings or tax reform," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Investors were also keeping an eye on the nomination of the next Federal Reserve chief.

The dollar got a lift from report that Republican senators were favoring Stanford University economist John Taylor over current Fed Governor Jerome Powell.

Upbeat durable goods data, which supported the view of steady economic growth, also helped the greenback.

At 9:37 a.m. ET (1337 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.29 points, or 0.01 percent, at 23,440.47, the S&P 500 was down 3.48 points, or 0.14 percent, at 2,565.65 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 6.04 points, or 0.09 percent, at 6,592.39.

Six of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, led by declines in the telecom services sector.

Anthem was the biggest S&P gainer, rising 4.8 percent after United States` second biggest health insurer reported better-than-expected profit.

Walgreens Boots Alliance rose 1.38 percent after the drugstore reported a 5.3 percent rise in revenue.

Northrop Grumman jumped about 3 percent after the defense contractor raised full-year profit forecast and reported higher quarterly profit and revenue, boosted by strength in its aerospace business.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,674 to 878. On the Nasdaq, 1,310 issues fell and 936 advanced.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)