Wall St: Tuesday mid-session

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

STOCKS were flat as investors pulled back from the 16-month highs hit the day before and started to sift through another batch of corporate earnings.

Dow Jones industrial average was down 2.96 points, or 0.03% and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 1.61 points, or 0.08% at 1,931.92.

On Monday, the Dow advanced 89.70 points to 9,764.38, while the Nasdaq Composite tacked on 18.22 points, to close at 1,933.53.

Johnson & Johnson reported third-quarter earnings of $2.1bn, or 69 cents per share, which was slightly ahead of estimates.

In the same period a year earlier, the healthcare and baby products giant earned $1.73bn, or 57 cents per share. Sales jumped 15.2% in the latest three months to $10.5bn from $9.1bn in the same period a year earlier. The shares opened 82 cents higher at $50.61.

Merrill Lynch reported third-quarter earnings of $1.04bn, or $1.04 a share, which was well above expectations.

The brokerage giant attributed the improved results to strong growth credit products, principal investments, foreign exchange and interest rate trading. It also cited strong growth in investment banking revenue and improvement in its equity business.

The shares slipped $1.09 to $57.80.

Shares of data storage systems maker EMC were the most heavily traded on the New York Stock Exchange, falling $1.19, or 8.2% to $13.26 after the company said it would buy document software firm Documentum for about $1.7bn. Documentum shares were up $4.07, or 16.6% to $28.49.

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