AAPL Apple Inc

By Sue Chang and Ellie Ismailidou, MarketWatch

Dow industrials under pressure; Oil futures slide for sixth session

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite edged higher Thursday amid mixed corporate results, but Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. continued to outperform the broader market on better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

The S&P 500 index rose 3 points, or 0.1%, to 2,169. A sixth straight decline (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-catch-a-small-break-from-a-weaker-dollar-2016-07-28) for oil futures weighed on energy and materials stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19 points, or 0.1%, at 18,453, hamstrung by sharp losses in Boeing Co.(BA) and Caterpillar Inc.(CAT)

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose was 12 points, or 0.2% to 5,152, boosted by a 1% gain in Apple Inc. (AAPL). Upbeat results from Facebook Inc. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-posts-huge-revenue-beat-2016-07-27)(FB) also supported the Nasdaq after the company late Wednesday beat Wall Street expectations.

But the social network's chief financial officer, Dave Wehner, said the company expects lower ad revenue growth in the next two quarters and just modest growth in its ad load. Shares of Facebook were up 1.3%.

Read:Facebook's rapid growth is about to slow down (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebooks-rapid-growth-is-about-to-slow-down-2016-07-27)

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebooks-rapid-growth-is-about-to-slow-down-2016-07-27)"Major indices remain in consolidation phases with no clear directional bias on a day-to-day basis," said Katie Stockton, chief technical strategist at BTIG, in a note.

Stocks muted moves come a day after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided to leave interest rates unchanged but hinted at a possible rate rise as soon as September. The central bank said near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished. The potential increase in rates weighed on telecom, the market's big winner this year, up 20% year to date.

"Telecom and utilities have been the place where fixed-income investors have gone to hide," while government bond yields recently tumbled to all-time lows, said Kim Forrest, senior portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital. Now that "a September rate hike is on the table, though December is more probable," these bond-like stocks are taking a hit.

More broadly, with equity valuations at historical highs and earnings reports coming in mixed, "all the market wants to know is whether the earnings recession is ending," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial, pointing to the main benchmarks' inability to push reach new records over the last few sessions.

But others said the fact that the market hasn't imploded after a run that sent the S&P 500 and the Dow to all-time highs is a good sign.

"Simply seeing the range remain intact has been a constructive phenomenon: the longer the [S&P] moves sideways after an almost 10% move, the greater the odds that another up leg results," said Frank Cappelleri, technical analyst at Instinet, in an email.

On the economic front, the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-climb-14000-to-266000-2016-07-28)last week rose from historical lows, while the nation's trade gap widened in June to $63.3 billion, as imports rose faster than exports. Meanwhile, wholesale inventories were unchanged and retail inventories inched higher.

Stocks to watch: Shares of ConocoPhilips (COP) inched up 0.3% despite the fact that the oil company reported a bigger loss than expected. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/conocophillip-loss-widens-as-revenue-slumps-36-2016-07-28)

Dow Chemicals Co.(DOW) rose 0.4% after earnings and revenue came in better than forecast by Wall Street.

Harley-Davidson Inc.(HOG) gained 0.4% after the company beat on both profit and revenue (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjY3P-mkZbOAhUDTCYKHVGmBs8QqQIILTAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marketwatch.com%2Fstory%2Fharley-davidson-beats-on-earnings-revenue-lowers-2016-motorcycle-shipment-guidance-2016-07-28&v6u=https%3A%2F%2Fs-v6exp1-ds.metric.gstatic.com%2Fgen_204%3Fip%3D205.203.130.22%26ts%3D1469708091514619%26auth%3Dol6dpt42mbijwgltfzjjxqkdfopmhwzt%26rndm%3D0.7774477069103305&v6s=2&v6t=5112&usg=AFQjCNG1hOjwMybsdl4OL7kojLkSNvrvaw&sig2=KsifhvXI0hzUzuk2isGAhQ&bvm=bv.128450091,bs.2,d.dmo).

Hershey(HSY) swung to a profit in the second quarter (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjUqaiykZbOAhWD3SYKHWGQAVsQqQIIMTAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marketwatch.com%2Fstory%2Fhershey-co-beats-second-quarter-earnings-expectations-2016-07-28&usg=AFQjCNG6tO8gVxg-k6yqBqTCEYiDGTeLfg&sig2=b8nvyO71rUAmRmkBzu0qXA&bvm=bv.128450091,bs.2,d.dmo) (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjUqaiykZbOAhWD3SYKHWGQAVsQqQIIMTAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marketwatch.com%2Fstory%2Fhershey-co-beats-second-quarter-earnings-expectations-2016-07-28&usg=AFQjCNG6tO8gVxg-k6yqBqTCEYiDGTeLfg&sig2=b8nvyO71rUAmRmkBzu0qXA&bvm=bv.128450091,bs.2,d.dmo), leading the shares to rise 3.3%.

Shares of MasterCard Inc. (MA) climbed 2.4%, after the payments processing and credit card company beat second-quarter profit and revenue expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mastercards-stock-jumps-after-profit-sales-beat-expectations-2016-07-28).

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-posts-huge-revenue-beat-2016-07-27)Shares of Whole Foods Market Inc (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whole-foods-profit-falls-sales-slip-2016-07-27-18485051).(WFM) plunged 9.8% after the upmarket grocer gave a weak forecast for the current quarter as it booked a fourth-straight quarterly profit fall on Wednesday.

GoPro Inc (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gopro-reports-loss-but-results-beat-estimates-2016-07-27).(GPRO) swung to a loss, but results still beat expectations, and shares jumped 14%. Groupon Inc (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/groupon-shares-surge-as-results-top-expectations-2016-07-27-174852644).(GRPN) soared 28% after posting better-than-expected results late on Wednesday.

After Thursday's close, Alphabet Inc.(GOOGL), Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN), Expedia Inc.(EXPE) CBS Corp.(CBSA) are expected to report earnings.

Read:Alphabet earnings bring concern about Google search growth, revenue (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alphabet-earnings-bring-concern-about-google-search-growth-revenue-2016-07-26)

Other markets: The Nikkei 225 index (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-fall-ahead-of-bank-of-japan-meeting-2016-07-27) slipped 1.1% as investors stayed cautious about a potential stimulus plan. The Bank of Japan will wrap up its policy meeting Friday, and some investors expect it to join forces with the government to announce a big batch of stimulus measures the same day.

As the Nikkei fell, the yen moved up against rival currencies, pushing the dollar (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-pulls-back-vs-yen-as-investors-await-boj-outcome-2016-07-28) lower.

Gold prices settled higher as investors took the view that the Fed won't raise interest rates as early as September.

Check out: Why gold prices spiked after the Fed decision (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-gold-prices-spiked-after-the-fed-decision-2016-07-27)

European stocks retreated amid a batch of big earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-wobble-as-avalanche-of-earnings-reports-rolls-in-2016-07-28).

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/brexit-beats-oil-low-growth-as-hot-topic-during-europes-earnings-season-2016-07-28)--Barbara Kollmeyer and Sara Sjolin contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 28, 2016 15:30 ET (19:30 GMT)

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