NEW YORK: Investors unimpressed by a skein of positive earnings surprises sold down US stocks Wednesday, with some nervousness over the eurozone clouding sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 82.79 points (0.63 percent) to finish the session at 13,032.75.
The broader S&P 500 lost 5.64 (0.41 percent) to 1,385.14, while the Nasdaq dropped 11.37 (0.37 percent) to 3,031.45.
"Earnings reports, although generally better than expected, have failed to stimulate broad demand for many stocks," said Briefing.com, referring in part to first-quarter reports by IBM and Intel, both members of the 30-stock Dow.
IBM's first-quarter earnings topped estimates with a 7.1 percent profit rise, but the share price dived 3.5 percent as traders focused on a disappointing revenues figure.
Chip-maker Intel slid 1.8 percent as its profits dropped 13 percent while expenses rose.
Berkshire Hathaway's B shares fell 1.3 percent after founder and chief, investment guru Warren Buffett, reported that he would take treatment for prostate cancer but would hold onto his duties running the company.
Apple, whose 5.1 percent jump Tuesday drove the Nasdaq's 1.82 percent surge, slipped 0.2 percent.
In other corporate news, two drug plan managers SXC Health Solutions Corp. and Catalyst Health Solutions said they had agreed a $4.4 billion cash-and-stock deal. SXC shares jumped 11.3 percent and Catalyst soared 34.1 percent.
News Corp. shares lost 0.6 percent after it announced it would suspend the voting power of foreign shareholders by half to meet US television station ownership limits.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury slipped to 1.98 percent from 2.01 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year moved to 3.13 percent from 3.15 percent.
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