U.S. stocks mixed at midday amid earnings

U.S. stocks traded mixed around midday on Tuesday, as investors were digesting a spate of corporate earnings reports.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 73.33 points, or 0.41 percent, to 17,961.60. The S&P 500 inched down 2.82 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,097.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 18. 95 points, or 0.38 percent, to 5,013.55.

With no major U.S. economic data due out Tuesday, investors focused on a batch of corporate results for the first quarter of 2015.

After Monday's closing bell, IBM announced better-than-expected adjusted quarterly earnings of 2.91 U.S. dollars per share, up 9 percent over the 2.68 dollars per share in the first quarter of 2014. Revenue was in line with estimates, though it marked the company's 12th straight quarter of year-over-year sales declines. Its shares lost 0.70 percent around midday Tuesday.

DuPont reported Tuesday its first quarter earnings per share of 1.34 dollars, above analysts' expectations, but revenue was below forecasts. DuPont said quarterly results were impacted by the stronger dollar. Shares decreased 2.90 percent around midday.

Shares of Verizon fell 0.77 percent around midday Tuesday, as the company beat forecasts with quarterly profit of 1.02 dollars per share. Its quarterly revenue fell slightly to 32 billion dollars. But Verizon's wireless operation added 565,000 subscribers in the first quarter compared to a year earlier.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2015 are expected to decline 2.2 percent year on year, while the revenue is forecast to decrease 3.1 percent. Endite