Off the wire
• Lithuania, China enjoy bright future on cooperation: officials  • Italian artisan products to enter Chinese market on new online channel  • Israeli minister calls for closer bilateral cooperation with China  • Roundup: Macedonia launches investigation on possible tax evasion through Swiss branch of HSBC bank  • Plane with Bulgarian PM makes emergency landing  • Roundup: 330 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean wreckage  • Foreign exchange rate of Euro to other currencies  • Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2200 GMT, Feb. 11  • UN envoy's talks in Syria focus on reducing violence, increasing aid  • 1st LD Writethru: Four-way peace talks on Ukraine resume with expanded format  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end mixed amid Greece uncertainty, earnings

Xinhua, February 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks were little changed after wavering around flatline in a tight range Wednesday, as investors were eagerly awaiting the outcome of an emergency meeting of European finance ministers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 6.62 points, or 0.04 percent, to 17,862.14. The S&P 500 edged down 0.06 point, or less than 0.01 percent, to 2,068.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 13.54 points, or 0.28 percent, to 4, 801.18.

Wednesday's emergency meeting is part of the continuing negotiations as eurozone and Greek leaders have several scheduled discussions over the next few days. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is expected to request a bridge agreement to cover the country's funding needs until autumn while the government is negotiating a final agreement with creditors on further debt relief.

U.S. weekly mortgage applications, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, were down 9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

In corporate news, Apple's shares gained 2.34 percent to 124.88 dollars apiece Wednesday, boosting the Nasdaq as the only major index ending higher. The tech giant's market capital soared to a record high of over 700 billion dollars after its shares closed at 122.02 dollars apiece Tuesday.

Shares of Pepsi rose 2.46 percent to 100.40 dollars apiece Wednesday after the beverage and snack giant released better-than- expected quarterly financial report. Pepsi reported its core earnings per share of 1.12 dollars for the fourth quarter of 2014 and 4.63 dollars for the full year.

Thomson Reuters, however, missed estimates with adjusted quarterly earnings of 43 cents per share. The financial information provider's shares dropped 2.53 percent to 38.59 dollars apiece.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that S&P 500 companies' per-share earnings in the fourth quarter of 2014 are expected to grow 6.7 percent year on year, while revenue growth is forecast to increase 1.9 percent. A total of 352 companies in the S&P 500 have reported quarterly results to date. Endite