Stocks ended a wobbly day with mixed results Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it was seeing improvement in the economy, but not enough to start dialing down its support for it. The S&P 500 ended little changed after giving up a brief gain in the afternoon. The latest company earnings have been broadly solid, though reactions from investors have been mixed, the AP reports. Pfizer and Boeing rose after reporting strong financial results. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 1.23%. The S&P 500 fell 0.82 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4,400.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 127.59 points, or 0.4%, to 34,930.93. The Nasdaq rose 102.01 points, or 0.7%, to 14,762.58. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 33.12 points, or 1.5%, to 2,224.96.
Gains in several big communications, health care, and technology stocks helped offset drops in companies that rely on consumer spending and makers of household and personal products. Google's parent company Alphabet was a standout, jumping 3.2% after reporting a profit surge last quarter. Pfizer rose 3.7% after its profit and revenue surged on strong sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and other medicines. It also raised its sales and profit forecasts for the year. Boeing jumped 4.2% after the airplane maker reported a surprise quarterly profit, its first since 2019. Solid earnings weren’t enough to lift stocks for other companies. McDonald’s fell 1.9% despite reporting a surge in revenue and beating analysts’ forecasts as dining rooms reopened.
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