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US stocks end mixed

Washington - US stocks closed mixed after a day of bumpy trade on uesday, with the Nasdaq gaining ground while the Dow blue chips bowed to selling pressure.

Trade in Chipotle Mexican Grill shares was heavy, with the restaurant chain sinking 4.2% to $302.96 after influential hedge fund manager David Einhorn told a conference the shares should be shorted.

At the closing bell the broad-based S&P 500 was up 1.26 points at 1,445.75, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gained 6.51 points to 3,120.04.

But the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average dropped 32.75 points to 13,482.36.

Hints that a rescue plan for Spain was imminent gave share prices an opening boost, but that lost steam amid the lack of any concrete news.

Much attention was focused on a New York investor conference at which Einhorn, who heads Greenlight Capital, said Chipotle was vulnerable to competition including from Yum Brands' Taco Bell chain.

But Yum shares also fell, losing 1.4%.

Green Mountain Coffee took a momentary hit after Einhorn repeated his long-voiced short recommendation, but it rebounded and closed 2.9% higher.

JPMorgan Chase lost 0.1% a day after New York state sued the bank over dodgy mortgage-backed securities sold in 2005-2007 by Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan took over in 2008, turning it into JP Morgan Securities.

"The lawsuit certainly is negative, but it is not a surprise," said Eric Oja, a banking analyst at Standard and Poor's. Oja said it was known that the government's mortgage securities task force was created to go after alleged fraud perpetrated ahead of the financial crash.

Microsoft rose 0.6% and Google lost 0.6%, putting Microsoft back in second place for the largest tech companies by market cap, a day after Google surpassed it for the first time. Apple is first, by a large margin.

Bond prices fell. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.62% from 1.61% late on Monday, while the 30-year yield rose to 2.81% from 2.80%. Bond prices move inversely to yields.


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