U.S. stocks close mixed as traders digest earnings reports

NEW YORK, April 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks continued to end mixed on Wednesday as the latest earnings reports failed to move the market in a decisive manner.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 79.62 points, or 0.23 percent, to 33,897.01. The S&P 500 sank 0.35 points, or 0.01 percent, to 4,154.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 3.81 points, or 0.03 percent, to 12,157.23.

Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red with communication services and materials sectors leading the laggards down 0.72 percent and 0.31 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, utilities and real estate sectors led the gainers up 0.78 percent and 0.55 percent, respectively.

Morgan Stanley beat market expectations in terms of earnings and revenues in the first quarter while Netflix presented a mixed bag of operating results in the period leading to 3.17 percent loss of its stock price on Wednesday.

"Earnings have been a bit mixed so far, but it seems like they have not been enough to spook the market," said Christopher Lewis, analyst with market information platform FX Empire.

The market could go back and forth in a relatively small range with the S&P 500 Index fluctuating between 4,100 and 4,200 in the short term, according to Lewis.

The composite index of U.S. mortgage applications in the week ending April 14 fell 8.8 percent week on week compared with an expansion of 5.3 percent in the previous week, according to data issued by the Mortgage Bankers Association Wednesday morning.

U.S. economic activity was "little changed" in late March and early April, according to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, a survey on economic conditions, published on Wednesday.