Investing.com - Wall Street was mixed on Wednesday as the U.S. trade deficit was lower than expected, but concerns over global growth lingered.
The U.S. trade deficit fell to $51.15 billion in January, which was better than expected. Still, a fall in Chinese corporate profits and dovish comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi dragged on market sentiment.
The Dow gained 3.5 points or 0.01% by 10:10 AM ET (14:10 GMT), while the S&P 500 fell 3 points, or 0.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was down 16 points or 0.2%.
In a keynote speech on Wednesday, Draghi wrapped said that “the ECB will adopt all the monetary policy actions that are necessary and proportionate to achieve its objective," including holding off on increasing interest rates until next year.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) rose 2.7% even after it said the grounding of the Boeing (NYSE:BA) 738 Max 8 jet was hurting sales. Boeing increased 0.5% as it is scheduled to brief pilots and airline representatives on its 737 update as it struggles to contain the fallout from two deadly crashes involving the jet.
Meanwhile, Centene (NYSE:CNC) slumped 7.4% after the health insurer said it would buy WellCare Health Plans for $15.3 billion. Shares of WellCare Health (NYSE:WCG) jumped 10.2%, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 1% and Lennar (NYSE:LEN) gained 3.2% after it posted strong first-quarter numbers.
Semiconductor company Micron (NASDAQ:MU) fell 1.8%, while Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) slipped 2.8% and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) was down 0.4%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,316.65 a troy ounce, while crude oil inched up 0.2% to $60.09 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, gained 0.1% to 96.363.