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New York - Wall Street stocks dropped in early trade on Wednesday amid mixed first quarter reports, with Coke and McDonald's reporting earnings falls but Boeing announcing solid gains.
About 35 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 918.22, down 31.37 points (0.17%).
The broad-based S&P 500 added 3.47(0.17%) at 2 093.82, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 15.02 (0.30%) to 4 999.08.
Analysts say stocks have benefited from low-ball forecasts ahead of the first quarter earnings season that have allowed many companies to outperform.
In some cases, companies have bested expectations for profit, but fallen short on revenues.
Dow member Coca-Cola rose 1.1% despite first-quarter earnings falling 3.8% to $1.56bn due to the strong dollar. That translated into 48 cents per share, six cents above forecasts.
McDonald's, another Dow component, surged 4.5% as it vowed to unveil a turnaround plan in two weeks following another round of dismal results. Net income in the first quarter plunged 32.6% to $812m.
Dow member Boeing dropped 1.5% as analysts focused on rising costs for 787 production rather than a 38.9% jump in net income to $1.34bn. Revenues of $22.15bn came in just short of the $22.49bn projected by analysts.
Yahoo lost 1.2% after first-quarter earnings dived 93% to $21.1m behind sharply higher costs due to increased product and development spending and restructuring expenses. The company cut 1 100 jobs during the quarter.
Other companies reporting earnings included Amgen (-0.1%), Chipotle Mexican Grill (-7.2%), EMC (+2.2%) and Yum Brands (+3.9%).
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 1.93% from 1.92% Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.61% from 2.59%.
