By Sara Sjolin and Anora M. Gaudiano, MarketWatch

Dow on track for a sixth day of losses

U.S. stocks pared losses, though still remain in negative territory on Wednesday, as investors grappled with a mixed bag of earnings reports and climbing bond yields.

What are stock benchmarks doing?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 24,019, helped in large part by a rally by Boeing Co. shares following better-than-expected earnings and an upbeat outlook.

The S&P 500 was off by 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,632, with seven of the 11 main sectors trading lower. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 4 points, or less than 0.1%, to 7,002.

Read:Here's the threat to the stock market from rising bond yields (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-the-threat-to-the-stock-market-from-rising-bond-yields-2018-04-24)

What is driving the market?

Once again, the moves in the bond market were influencing trade in U.S. stocks on Wednesday, as Treasury yields continued to step higher. The yield on 10-year paperclimbed 3 basis points to 3.1941% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-10-year-yield-blasts-further-past-3-flirts-with-highest-since-2011-2018-04-25).

See:Here's why stock-market investors are focused on a 3% 10-year Treasury yield (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-stock-market-investors-are-focused-on-a-3-10-year-treasury-yield-2018-04-24)

Higher yields can weigh on stocks, as bonds start to offer better returns than equities and push up borrowing costs for companies.

Earnings season remains in focus, with high-profile companies such as Twitter Inc. and Boeing Co. issuing reports ahead of the bell. Names such as Facebook Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and Visa Inc. are due to report once trading closes.

So far, more than 80% of the S&P 500 companies with reports out have beaten profit forecasts. However, those better-than-expected results often haven't been enough to give shares a lift.

What are strategists saying?

"The move in 10-year bond yields is pretty significant. We went from 2.82% to 3.02% in only six sessions, which is why we are seeing investors dumping highly valued technology stocks," said Michael Antonelli, equity sales trader at Robert W. Baird & Co.

"Major U.S. equity indices recorded a considerable drop on Tuesday, as warnings by perceived-bellwether companies--perhaps most notably Caterpillar--of higher costs on the back of rising yields weighed on equity market sentiment," said Andreas Georgiou, investment analyst at XM, in a note.

What stocks are in focus?

Shares of Texas Instruments Inc.(TXN) rose 2.5% after the electronics maker late Tuesday reported earnings ahead of forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/texas-instruments-stock-rises-after-earnings-beat-2018-04-24).

Edwards Lifesciences Corp.(EW) slumped 5.8% after providing a disappointing forecast in its earnings report out late Tuesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/edwards-lifesciences-stock-drops-8-after-forecast-misses-2018-04-24).

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) rose 0.7% after a flurry of news for the company. The company reported a stronger-than-expected rise in revenue and launched a formal bid for Sky (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/comcast-bids-30-billion-for-sky-trumping-fox-2018-04-25)(SKY.LN). Comcast set out of the terms of a GBP22 billion ($30.72 billion) preconditional offer for U.K. broadcaster, trumping an offer from 21st Century Fox Inc. (FOXA).

Twitter Inc. (TWTR) shares fell 0.9%, reversing premarket gains that followed the social-media's better-than-expected earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-stock-rises-after-company-posts-second-ever-gaap-profit-big-mau-beat-2018-04-25).

Northrop Grumman Corp.(NOC) shares fell 3.3% even as the aerospace and defense contractor released forecast-beating earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/northrop-grumman-beats-profit-and-sales-expectations-raises-outlook-2018-04-25).

Boeing Co.(BA) shares rose 1.5% after beating first-quarter earnings expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeing-stock-flies-on-earnings-beat-upward-guidance-2018-04-25) and hiking its 2018 earnings outlook.

Readearnings previews for: AT&T (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wireless-earnings-numbers-may-take-a-back-seat-to-collusion-probe-and-ma-2018-04-23), Ford (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-earnings-offer-another-chance-for-the-stock-to-shake-off-its-slump-2018-04-23) and Facebook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-earnings-the-numbers-to-watch-for-an-advertiser-revolt-2018-04-22)

After the market closes, AT&T Inc.(T), Visa Inc.(V), Qualcomm Inc.(QCOM), Facebook Inc.(FB), eBay Inc.(EBAY), PayPal Holdings Inc.(PYPL) and Ford Motor Co.(F) are among companies slated to report.

What are other markets doing?

Stocks in Asia were hit by the worries over rising U.S. interest rates, with all major markets closing lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-down-but-improve-from-early-lows-2018-04-24). It was the same story in Europe (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dax-drops-15-after-lift-in-bond-yields-spooks-wall-street-2018-04-25), where the Stoxx Europe 600 index slid 0.9%.

The dollar (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-sets-sights-on-3-month-high-as-10-year-yield-stays-above-3-2018-04-25) was boosted by rising bond yields, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index up 0.4% at 91.142. Oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-edge-higher-ahead-of-us-stockpile-data-2018-04-25) edged higher, while gold prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-declines-anew-under-threat-of-rising-dollar-bond-yields-2018-04-25) declined 0.7%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2018 11:04 ET (15:04 GMT)