By DPA,
New York : Major US stock indices were mixed Wednesday on the eve of the quarterly earnings season.
Aluminium firm Alcoa Inc is due to report its third-quarter earnings Thursday, the first of the 30 components in the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average to deliver results. Wall Street analysts widely expect improvements in earnings for both the third quarter and the newly started fourth quarter of 2010.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 22.93 points, or 0.21 percent, to 10,967.65. The broader Standard and Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.78 points, or 0.07 percent, to 1,159.97. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 19.17 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,380.66.
The US currency dropped to 71.83 euro cents from 72.26 euro cents Tuesday. The dollar dipped against the Japanese currency to 82.94 yen from 83.22 yen.