On Wall St, the Nasdaq gained for an 11th straight session on Wednesday thanks to better than expected earnings from Apple and Starbucks, but the Dow Jones fell, weighed down by the banks following some disappointing results from Morgan Stanley.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 35 points to 8,881. The S&P500 Index is down ½ a point at 954 and the NASDAQ added 10 points to 1,926. In company news: Shares in bank holding company Wells Fargo and Co (NYSE:WFC) dropped 3.55 per cent to $24.45. The company reported better than expected earnings results for the quarter, posting profit of $3.17 billion, a rise of 81 per cent on the previous year and topping analysts expectations.
Global financial services firm Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) shares fell 0.07 per cent to $27.54. After the company reported a wider than expected loss for the quarter, partly due to a one-off charge related to the repayment of government bailout funds it received last year.
Shares in global internet brand Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) rose 3.7 per cent to $17.37. The company reported earnings for the quarter that beat expectations and revenue that was inline with previous guidance, but said it does not expect to meet forecasts in the third quarter due to a decline in revenue from advertising.
And shares in soft drink manufacturer The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) declined 2.42 per cent to $49.13. On Tuesday the company posted stronger than forecast earnings for the quarter but weaker than expected revenue.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: The best performer overnight was Starbucks which advanced 18.38 per cent to $17.39 after posting a solid profit for the quarter. Linear Technology and Illumina also closed higher. On the downside, the worst performer was Pharmaceutical Product Development which dropped 14.63 per cent to $18.85. Genzyme and Dish Network also closed weaker.
