US stocks mixed on earnings, trade; greenback declines

Bloomberg

US equities were mixed in early trading as investors digested the latest raft of earnings, and before key trade talks between America and the European Union. The dollar declined against most of its major peers.
The S&P 500 Index was little changed on Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined amid lower-than-average volume.
Coca-Cola’s results beat forecasts, while Fiat Chrysler’s came in below expectations. General Motors shares plunged after the carmaker cut its profit forecast on surging metals prices. And AT&T hit a six-year low after adding fewer wireless customers than anticipated.
“We’re down to the fundamental analysis of these on a company-by-company basis, with really only a couple of major themes,” tariffs and China, JP Gravitt, chief executive officer and market strategist for Market Realist, said. “Clearly, the tariffs are hitting people. You can look at the obvious ones — GM, Whirlpool, Boeing — and then the ones that people don’t talk about a whole lot. Across the board, tariffs are hitting people.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated. Asian equities advanced, though Shanghai stocks finished lower as positive sentiment spurred by Beijing’s willingness to support the Chinese economy showed signs of fading.
The greenback slipped as traders await developments from the meeting between US President Donald Trump and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Washington. The yen edged up after the Bank of Japan refrained from scaling back its bond purchases at a regular operation on Wednesday. Most European government bonds rose alongside Treasuries ahead of Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting.
Markets are struggling to build on Tuesday’s upbeat session as trade relations between the world’s biggest economic powers return to the fore. The meeting between Trump and the man he once described as a “brutal killer” takes place after the US president sent a Twitter message demanding both sides drop all tariffs, barriers and subsidies, before claiming the Europeans wouldn’t. The talks threaten to overshadow the steady stream of company earnings, with numbers still due from Facebook.
Elsewhere, Turkey’s lira regained some of the previous session’s losses, sustained after the central bank unexpectedly kept rates unchanged. Gauges of emerging-market currencies and shares climbed. Texas crude ticked up on stockpile decreases and gold gained.
Earnings season continues with the following tech companies among those reporting: Amazon.com, Twitter, Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm and Intel. Others include Nissan and Shell. The European Central Bank’s policy decision is Thursday. US gross domestic product probably increased by about 4.2 percent at an annualised rate in the second quarter, the most since 2014, economists forecast ahead of Friday’s data.
The S&P 500 Index gained less than 0.05 percent in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.3 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index declined 0.7 percent, its biggest decline in over a week. The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 0.7 percent to the highest in more than a month.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index sank 0.1 percent to the lowest in more than two weeks. The euro dipped 0.1 percent to $1.1674. The British pound climbed less than 0.05 percent to $1.3146. The Japanese yen increased 0.3 percent to 110.92 per dollar, the strongest in over two weeks.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped two basis points to 2.93 percent.