Wall Street backed off record levels and traded mixed Tuesday as investors weighed sluggish manufacturing data and several profit warnings ahead of earnings reports this week, AP reported. Investors sent the Dow Jones industrials to a new intraday high in the first hour of trading before it headed lower. The Nasdaq, which had been at a six-year peak, also fell off those levels. Wall Street was focused on the first wave of fourth-quarter earnings reports, including chip maker Intel Corp. after the closing bell. The market already received strong results before the market opened from Wells Fargo & Co. and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. Weighing on major indexes was a number of profit warnings, including software maker Symantec Corp. and home builder Centex Corp. In addition, a report from the New York Federal Reserve indicated the pace of manufacturing reached its lowest level since summer of 2005. With the markets closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the surge earlier in the session appeared to be a continuation of last week's strength. Investors are now focused on seeing how individual companies fare with their earnings reports, and await a trend about the quarter as a whole. «The market is very much focused on some earnings stories that will be coming out, and the back-and-forth comes from that,» said Richard Cripps, chief market strategist for Stifel Nicolaus. «The market is more individual stock-focused where it pertains to earnings announcements, and that will remain until a trend can be determined one way or another.» In midday trading, the Dow rose 0.80, or 0.01 percent, to 12,556.88. The index reached a new trading high of 12,585.08 earlier in the session. Broader stock indicators were narrowly mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 0.85, or 0.06 percent, to 1,431.58, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 1.51, or 0.06 percent, to 2,501.31. Investors seemed to take in stride the New York Fed's Empire State Manufacturing index, which slipped to 9.1 in January from 22.2 in December. The report followed data last week that indicated the economy is growing. This lent some support to the bond market, which has declined soundly in recent sessions on expectations central bankers won't cut rates because of signs of economc strength. Bonds rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.76 percent from 4.78 percent late Friday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold fell.
