S&P 500 ekes out record high as earnings roll in

NEW YORK - The Standard & Poor's 500 index eked out a record high Wednesday as investors weighed positive earnings from the technology industry against disappointing news from Boeing and other companies.

The S&P 500 rose 3.48 points, or 0.18 percent, to close at 1,987.01, beating its previous record from July 3 by less than two points.

The Nasdaq composite rose 17.68 points, or 0.4 percent, to end the day at 4,473.70.

The Dow Jones industrial average bucked the trend, falling 26.91 points, or 0.16 percent, to 17,086.63, dragged down by Boeing.

So far, with fewer than one-fourth of U.S.-listed companies having reported their quarterly financial performance, results have been better than expected. About 72 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings have beaten expectations, and 73 percent have beaten sales forecasts.

"It's a little early, but things seem to be coming in OK," said Sahak Manuelian, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.

Investors have become increasingly optimistic about the latest quarter. On June 30, they expected earnings to rise 4.9 percent from a year earlier. They now expect earnings to increase 5.5 percent.

Apple's earnings topped Wall Street expectations, helped by rising shipments of iPhones. Shares rose $2.47, or 2.6 percent, to $97.19 Wednesday after the company reported late Tuesday that its profit rose by 12 percent in its latest quarter.

Microsoft also reported results that beat forecasts.

Boeing slipped $3.03, or 2 percent, to $126.71, the biggest fall in the Dow, after reporting revenue that missed analysts' expectations.

The Dow is a price-weighted index of 30 stocks, so the movement of just one company can carry extra weight. Because Boeing is one of the Dow's most expensive stocks, it has an outsize impact on it.

Biotechnology stocks helped lift the other major indexes.

Shares of Puma Biotechnology, a drug-development company, soared after it disclosed positive trial results for an experimental breast cancer drug. Puma rose $174.40, or 295 percent, to $233.43.

Biogen Idec rose $33.93, or 11 percent, to $337.60 after its quarterly results came in above investors' expectations.

Unlike last week, investors were less focused on turmoil in Israel and Ukraine. But strategists say that with markets trading at all-time highs, any bad news could weigh on U.S. stocks.

"Geopolitical flare-ups, European bank-related market jitters, today's stretched valuations, and relatively low market volatility leave [the market] vulnerable," Russ Koesterich, chief investment strategist at Blackrock, wrote in a note to investors.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was unchanged at 2.47 percent from Tuesday.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 17 cents, to $104.42 a barrel.