By Devik Jain and Shashank Nayar
(Reuters) – The Nasdaq led gains among major Wall Street indices on Wednesday, with a robust Microsoft forecast supporting optimism about third-quarter balance sheet season, as a drop in oil prices hurt corporate stocks power.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices struggled for direction during the first hour of trading, with 7 of the 11 major sector indices on the S&P 500 falling.
Microsoft jumped 3.6% after forecasting strong performance towards the end of the year, helped by its operations in the cloud storage sector. Alphabet, which owns Google, gained 3.3% after posting a record quarterly balance due to increased ad sales.
Its shares, like other mega-cap names like Amazon.com and Tesla, provided the biggest boost for the Nasdaq.
Concerns about rising prices, potentially higher corporate taxes and Federal Reserve stimulus plans have shaken markets last month, but optimistic balances have helped sentiment in October. The S&P 500 and Dow hit historic highs this week.
At 12:03 pm EDT, the Dow Jones Index was down 0.21%, to 35,680 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.06%, to 4,572 points. The Nasdaq technology index advanced 0.27% to 15,276 points.
(By Devik Jain)
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