X The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 narrowed their early losses into Wednesday's close, after a no-surprise Fed announcement and an after-hours session featuring earnings reports from Facebook (FB) and Tesla (TSLA).
Tesla shares rose slightly as the automaker reported a widening loss for Q1, but its sales of $2.7 billion topped estimates. Facebook fell modestly after its earnings missed expectations, but sales beat views.
The Dow ended with the slimmest of gains, while the S&P 500 closed down 0.1%. The Nasdaq eased from its early crouch, ending down 0.4%. Small caps outpaced on the downside, with the Russell 2000 taking a 0.6% loss.
The Federal Reserve wrapped up a session of positive data reports, announcing at midafternoon no change to its target interest rate. Earlier, April hiring data and two service-sector indexes came in better than expected by economists.
Market Drivers: Apple, Akamai, Straight Path, Sprint
But Apple (AAPL) put an early hurt on the Nasdaq, trading lower after delivering mixed second-quarter results late Tuesday. Apple trimmed its intraday loss to just 0.3% at the close.
Other names taking hits on earnings news: Sprint (S) fell 15%, Groupon (GRPN) lost 14%, Bunge (BG) dropped 12%, and Spirit AeroSystems (SPR) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC) both shed 8%.
Among the stocks punching out big gains on earnings were Walker & Dunlop (WD), Bridgepoint (BPI), Strayer Education (STRA) and Hubspot (HUBS).
Citrix Systems (CTXS) rumbled ahead more than 7% after Bloomberg reported that private-equity firms Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Thoma Bravo have all placed bids to acquire the virtualization software specialist. Shares are nearing the 88.09 buy point of a flat base.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM) slunk to the bottom of the S&P 500, down 16%. Delphi Automotive (DLPH) topped the index, surging 10% and breaking out above an 83.33 flat-base buy point after reporting a stronger-than-expected first quarter performance and announcing plans to spin off its drivetrain business as a separate company.
Straight Path (STRP) spiked 23%, lifting its gain to nearly 330% since March 31, as an unnamed "multinational telecommunications company," reported to be Verizon (VZ), had topped a previous offer from AT&T (T).
Thursday's Lineup
Economic news on Thursday includes the monthly job-cuts report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, weekly unemployment data and first-quarter productivity estimates from the Labor Department, ahead of its April payrolls report on Friday.
Companies scheduled to report early Thursday include Kellog (K), AmBev (ABEV), Anheuser Busch (BUD), Siemens (SIEGY) and Ferrari (RACE), among many others.
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