Stocks Ended Little Changed Ahead of ECB Meeting

U.S. stocks ended little changed on Wednesday as traders awaited this week’s European Central Bank meeting and data on U.S. jobs. The Dow industrials closed up 11.54 points, or 0.09%, at 13,047.48,  the S&P 500 edged down 1.5 points, or 0.11%, at 1,403.44, while the Nasdaq Composite ended down by 5.79 points, or 0.19%, to 3,069.27.

Nokia revealed its first smartphones to run the next version of Windows, a big step for a company that has bet its future on an alliance with Microsoft. Nokia’s new flagship phone is the Lumia 920, which runs Windows Phone 8.

Facebook’s stock increased nearly 5 percent on Wednesday following a disclosure that its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, won’t sell stock in the company for at least a year.

FedEx Corp. sent a shudder through the market Wednesday after warning that its parcel-delivery business was not delivering the profit it had expected just a couple of months ago.

H&R Block is reporting a smaller loss for its fiscal first quarter, as the nation’s largest tax preparer cut its spending. The company lost $107.4 million, or 39 cents per share, compared with a loss of $175.1 million, or 57 cents per share, last year. Excluding one-time charges, it lost 38 cents per share. Revenue slipped 4 percent, to $96.5 million.