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* Texas Instruments leads declines among chip stocks
* Nike shares fall on CEO departure
* Anthem, Boston Scientific, Thermo Fisher jump on upbeat
profits
* Dow down 0.10%, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq down 0.10%
(Updates to late afternoon, changes byline, adds NEW YORK to
dateline)
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The benchmark S&P 500 was
little changed on Wednesday as lackluster quarterly reports from
Texas Instruments Inc TXN.O pushed down semiconductor stocks
and the departure of Nike Inc's NKE.N chief executive weighed
on the company's shares.
Texas Instruments shares tumbled 7.6% after the chipmaker
projected fourth-quarter revenue below estimates, citing
weakened demand in part from trade tensions. Texas Instruments
was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
Shares of other semiconductor companies, including Intel
Corp INTC.O and Broadcom Inc AVGO.O , fell as well. The
Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index dropped 2.2%. A 3.1% decline in Nike shares weighed down the Dow Jones
Industrial Average. The footwear company announced after the
bell on Tuesday that Mark Parker, its long-time chief executive
officer, would step down next year. Nike tapped John Donahoe,
chief executive of ServiceNow Inc NOW.N , as Parker's
successor. ServiceNow shares fell 4.5%.
Losses in U.S. stocks were muted, though, despite big
earnings misses from industrial bellwethers Boeing Co BA.N and
Caterpillar Inc CAT.N .
Boeing shares were little changed after the aerospace
company reported a 53% drop in quarterly profit. The company,
however, reaffirmed the timeline for its grounded 737 MAX's
return to service. Caterpillar shares rose 1.3% despite the heavy machinery
maker reporting earnings well short of Wall Street estimates and
cutting its full-year profit outlook. Weakened demand in China
dragged down the company's sales in Asia. But the company also
said tariffs stemming from the U.S.-China trade war would have a
smaller impact on its business than previously forecast.
"That's a stock that has had a lot of issues with trade, but
at the same time, it has been able to hang in there," said Mark
Kepner, equity trader at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey,
of Caterpillar. "That's pretty good for the market."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 26.76 points,
or 0.1%, to 26,761.34, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.2 points, or
0.01%, to 2,996.19 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 7.73
points, or 0.1%, to 8,096.57.
Advances in Apple Inc AAPL.O and Facebook Inc FB.O
shares helped cap losses.
Apple shares rose 1.0% after Morgan Stanley said the iPhone
maker's soon-to-be-launched video streaming service, Apple TV+,
could boost its services revenue.
Facebook shares advanced 1.7% after Chief Executive Mark
Zuckerberg sought to reassure U.S. lawmakers about the company's
planned digital currency, Libra. The S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC climbed 0.5% after
health insurer Anthem Inc ANTM.N and medical device makers
Boston Scientific Corp BSX.N and Thermo Fisher Scientific
TMO.N reported strong results. However, Eli Lilly and Co LLY.N shares fell 2.5% after the
drugmaker missed third-quarter revenue estimates. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.42-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.01-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and one new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 49 new highs and 50 new lows.