Midnight Trader | Jul 23, 2014 04:20PM ET
Stocks ended mixed Wednesday with blue-chips struggling throughout much of Wednesday's session following weak quarterly results for a pair of component companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite indices extended their advance after better-than-expected financial performance by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB) among other firms reporting results Tuesday night and into Wednesday, which drove the S&P 500 to another record high.
It was a light day for economic data, with the Mortgage Banker's Association Wednesday reporting a surprise 0.3% rise in single-family homes under contract, returning to positive ground following an 8.0% decline last week. Year-over-year, the purchase applications index is down 15.0%.
Losses for Dow components Boeing (NYSE:BA) and McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) following disappointing earnings results weighed on the blue-chip index, although the Dow Industrials managed to finish the day's session above its 17,000 mark. Ongoing tension in the Middle East and Ukraine also hindered gains, with reports shortly after the opening bell this morning that two Ukranian jet fighters were shot down near the same region where a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet was shot down last week.
Federal aviation authorities in the U.S. this afternoon also extended their moratorium on commercial flights into Israel for a second day.
Crude Oil for September delivery settled 73 cents higher at $103.02 per barrel while August Natural Gas fell 1 cent to $3.76 per 1 million BTU. August Gold fell $1.60 to $1.304.50 per ounce while September Silver was unchanged at $21.00 per ounce. September Copper also settled unchanged at $3.21 per pound.
h3 Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End/h3GLOBAL SENTIMENT
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