NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks mostly fell early Wednesday following mixed earnings reports, while markets monitored the latest struggle on Capitol Hill to elect a key congressional leader.

Tech giants Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet moved in opposite directions after reporting results late Tuesday that highlighted the rising demand for artificial intelligence systems.

Meanwhile, Republicans made their fourth pick in just two weeks to replace the ousted speaker of the US House of Representatives.

Wall Street rises as forecasts lift sentiment

The turmoil adds to worries about a mid-November deadline to reach a deal to keep the government running.

“The more this goes on, the more a potential shutdown is possible,” said Quincy Krosby of LPL Financial.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 33,188.36.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent to 4,217.40, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.3 percent to 12,972.70.

Krosby said investors are also anxious about Thursday’s US gross domestic product data for the third quarter.

Forecasters think the world’s top economy could log four percent growth – a lofty level that could prompt the Federal Reserve to further hike interest rates.