US stocks have closed mixed, with the Dow surging sharply higher and Apple dragging down the Nasdaq after its iPhone launch missed expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 135.54 points (0.89 per cent) to 15,326.60.
The broad-market S&P 500 index advanced 5.14 (0.31 per cent) to 1,689.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq dipped 4.01 (0.11 per cent) to 3,725.01.
After two days of gains, the stock indexes diverged as Apple took a beating a day after unveiling two new iPhones and dashing expectations that a media event in Beijing would reveal a deal with China Mobile, the country’s biggest carrier.
The technology giant’s shares sank 5.4 per cent to $US467.71.
“The company failed to impress the analyst community with its latest iPhone introductions and the lack of an announcement of a China Mobile deal,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
Apple also suffered downgrades, including from Bank of America and UBS.
Wall Street had little reaction to President Barack Obama’s televised address to the nation late Tuesday, when he opened the door to a diplomatic solution to a military strike on Syria, O’Hare said.
“The speech wasn’t surprising and the relief that a diplomatic solution looks possible has been priced in.”
The economic calendar was light. Mortgage applications fell 13.5 per cent last week from the prior week, and refinancing applications dropped 20 per cent to its lowest level since June 2009, amid rising interest rates, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association report.
Verizon Communications edged up 0.1 per cent as it launched a $US49 billion bond sale, by far the largest corporate bond sale in history.
Verizon is issuing new debt to help fund its $US130 billion buyout of Vodafone’s 45 per cent stake in their joint venture Verizon Wireless.
Other tech stocks scored strong gains. On the Dow, IBM jumped 2.2 per cent and Microsoft rose 1.1 per cent.
Texas Instruments fell 0.7 per cent after lowering its earnings and profit forecast for the third quarter.
General Motors slid 1.8 per cent. The Canadian government and Ontario province announced they had sold about a fifth of their share in General Motors, four years after joining a US bailout of the auto giant.
Home furnishings retailer Restoration Hardware Holdings plunged 11.9 per cent after reporting a swing into loss in its fiscal second quarter as sales fell 4.7 per cent from a year earlier.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.91 per cent from 2.96 per cent late Tuesday, while the 30-year dropped to 3.85 per cent from 3.89 per cent. Prices and yields move inversely.
