Stocks Declined as Tech Earnings Disappointed

U.S. stocks extended losses on Wednesday, as the technology sector fell on disappointing results from giants including Apple Inc.  At close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.25 points, or 0.38%, to 17,851.04. The S&P 500 was down 5.06 points, or 0.24%, to 2,114.15. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 36.35 points, or 0.70%, to 5,171.77.

Apple Inc. said its quarterly profit surged 38%, boosted again by strong demand for the company’s latest iPhones and robust growth in China where sales more than doubled.But the company’s revenue outlook for the current quarter fell short of Wall Street expectations.

U.S. home resales rose in June to their highest level in nearly 8-1/2 years, a sign of pent-up demand that should buoy the housing market recovery and likely keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates later this year. The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday existing home sales increased 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.49 million units, the highest level since February 2007.

Boeing on Wednesday lowered its profit guidance for 2015 and said that a pretax $835 million charge to cover problems developing a refueling plane for the Air Force had helped drag down second-quarter earnings from core operations 14 percent.

Data storage products maker SanDisk Corp (SNDK.O) reported a 24 percent fall in quarterly revenue, hurt by lower sales of solid-state drives. The company’s revenue fell to $1.24 billion in the second quarter ended June 28 from $1.63 billion a year earlier.

American Express Co., the biggest credit-card issuer by purchases, posted second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as expenses fell. Net income slid 3.7 percent to $1.47 billion, or $1.42 a share, from $1.53 billion, or $1.43, a year earlier when the company booked a gain from the sale of its business-travel unit.