(Reuters) – U.S. stocks pulled back slightly on Wednesday after a record-setting rally in the prior session, as investors digested a batch of mixed earnings reports.

The S&P 500 is just 0.3% away from an intra-day record high of 2,940.91 hit on Sept. 21 after surging about 17% this year, helped by a dovish Federal Reserve, hopes of a U.S.-China trade resolution and a largely upbeat earnings season.

“Thus far you’ve had pretty strong reactions to earnings and investor sentiment is nervously positive,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

“The nervousness has to do with valuations and the concern being, ‘Am I going to get good enough results and guidance to justify the markets going higher?’”

Boeing Co shares gained 1.1% even as the planemaker scrapped its 2019 outlook and reported quarterly revenue below Wall Street estimates due to grounding of its 737 MAX jets. Its shares have lost 11% since the deadly Ethiopian crash in early March.

Caterpillar Inc fell 3.2%. The company topped analysts’ estimates for quarterly profit but posted a 4% decline in construction revenue in Asia-Pacific, one of its key markets dominated by China.

Profits of S&P 500 companies are expected to decline 1.1% for the first quarter, according to Refinitv data. However, the estimates have improved since the start of April, with 77.5% of the 129 companies that have reported so far surpassing earnings estimates.

At 9:58 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 33.80 points, or 0.13%, at 26,622.59, the S&P 500 was down 2.24 points, or 0.08%, at 2,931.44 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 7.23 points, or 0.09%, at 8,113.60.

The healthcare sector fell 0.4% and weighed the most on the markets amid ongoing concerns of tighter regulations.

EBay Inc shares jumped 3.8% after the company raised its full-year sales and profit forecasts.

AT&T Inc shares declined 3% after the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier reported quarterly revenue below Wall Street estimates.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp shares jumped 11.7%, providing the biggest boost to the S&P 500, after Occidental Petroleum Corp sought to scuttle Chevron Corp’s takeover of the company with a $57 billion bid. Occidental’s shares fell 3.0%.

Microsoft Corp and Facebook Inc, set to report after the closing bell on Wednesday, were down about 0.5%.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.07-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.23-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 37 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 48 new highs and 15 new lows.

Source: Read Full Article