Quarterly reports produce mixed results

The New York equities markets were mixed in early afternoon trade on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.02 percent higher to 12,118.91, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.4 percent to 2,342.22 and the S&P 500 was 0.1 percent lower to 1,375.57. The activity was a result of several factors, including a lack of new economic data, earnings reports that were not up to par, and unwillingness to commit ahead of the Federal Reserve’s newest interest rate decision, due Wednesday.

Texas Instruments dropped 2.9 percent to $30.97 on a quarterly report that did not meet expectations and on a disappointing prediction for fourth quarter results. Kraft Foods likewise issued a quarterly report that did not satisfy, and was in consequence 3.8 percent lower to $34.91. Even though Whirlpool’s earnings were a bit better than had been anticipated, it cut its prediction for unit shipment growth in North America. The appliance maker saw shares fall 3.9 percent to $85.86.

Not all the quarterly reports were disappointing. DuPont produced a good quarterly report and added 1.8 percent to $46.28. Lucent, which is being purchased by French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel, added 7.7 percent to $2.52 on better than expected earnings.

Qualcomm was 3.1 percent lower to $36.91 on rumors that the patent case it filed against Nokia could be in for another look by the courts. Meanwhile, Intel added 1.1 percent to $21.69.

Amazon.com added 1.8 percent to $33.46 ahead of its quarterly report, due after the close of trade.