U.S. stocks ease gains despite upbeat earnings

U.S. stocks were little changed midday Wednesday despite cheerful earnings from bellwether corporations, as falling oil prices dragged down the energy sector.

Boosted by Apple's strong quarterly earnings, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose more than 1 percent shortly after the opening bell, but then the Index reversed the early advance to hit red territory in the morning trading as energy stocks dragged.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55.39 points, or 0.32 percent, to 17,442.60. The S&P 500 gained 2.34 points, or 0. 12 percent, to 2,031.89. The Nasdaq was up 9.18 points, or 0.20 percent, to 4,690.68.

Apple shares rose over 7 percent around midday after its first- quarter earnings of 2015 beat analyst expectations.

The tech giant's financial results, announced after the close of markets on Tuesday, showed that its quarterly revenue was 74.6 billion U.S. dollars and quarterly net profit was 18 billion dollars, or 3.06 dollars per diluted share. These results were fueled by all-time record revenue from iPhone and Mac sales as well as record performance of the App Store.

"We'd like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive officer.

Boeing shares jumped as well after its better-than-expected quarterly earnings. The company reported record fourth-quarter revenue of 24.5 billion dollars on higher deliveries and core earnings per share that increased 23 percent to 2.31 dollars, reflecting strong performance across the company.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that S&P 500 companies' per-share earnings in the fourth quarter are expected to grow 4.4 percent year on year, while revenue growth is forecast to increase 1.4 percent. Thomson Reuters upwardly revised the forecasts after Apple's quarterly results, as the tech giant is the most influential company in the index.

However, energy equities slid in the morning session as U.S oil prices decreased more than 2 percent.

Investors were keeping a close eye on the Federal Reserve's two- day policy meeting wrapping up Wednesday for any clues on the timing of its interest rate hike. The Fed will release its statements in the afternoon. Analysts expected the Fed to bring no change to policy, and would focus on comments on oil markets.

U.S. stocks suffered big losses Tuesday, as economic data came in mixed and corporate earnings missed forecasts. Endite