Stocks erase losses; end near break-even levels

From wire services , NBC News ? ? ? 8 hrs.

Stock indexes ended the trading day near the break-even point on Wall Street, recovering from an early loss.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended with a gain of seven points Wednesday at 13,986. It was down as much as 66 points in the early going.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index eked out a gain of just under a point to end at 1,512. The Nasdaq composite edged down three points to 3,168.

Time Warner rose 4 percent after the company said its net income grew 51 percent in the last three months of 2012. Ralph Lauren also rose sharply after posting solid results.

Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was about average at 3.5 billion shares.

Transportation stocks were among the worst performers, pressured by a 9.7 percent drop in CH Robinson Worldwide to $60.48 after the freight transport company posted a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit.

The benchmark S&P 500 index has advanced 6 percent this year and reached to its highest since December 2007. The Dow industrials have risen above 14,000 recently, making it a challenge for investors to push stocks higher in the absence of strong positive catalysts. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday.

"The market is starting to feel a little tired, though we're holding together. I think a lot of people are wondering whether this (up trend) continues," said Frank Lesh, a futures analyst and broker at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago.

Also, investors have been speculating about leadership changes in Spain and Italy, as well as watching for comments from European leaders. European Central Bank policymakers are due to meet Thursday.

Walt Disney Co was up 0.7 percent at $54.66, after the company beat estimates for quarterly adjusted earnings and gave an optimistic outlook for the next few quarters.

According to Thomson Reuters data, of 301 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 68.1 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters. In terms of revenue, 65.8 percent of companies have topped forecasts.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 4.7 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/stocks-erase-losses-end-near-break-even-levels-1B8269990

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