US stocks mixed ahead of next batch of earnings

US stocks closed narrowly mixed Tuesday as cash-strapped Greece's efforts to get a debt writedown from the private sector down and a mixed bag of US company earnings dented market sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 33.07 points (0.26 percent) to finish the session at 12,675.75. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite edged up 2.47 points (0.09 percent) to 2,786.64, while the broad-based S&P 500 lost 1.37 points (0.10 percent) to 1,314.63. "Concerns over a possible Greek debt default kept any gains in US equities at bay in today's trading, as negotiations between Greece and its private bondholders hit a snag," Charles Schwab analysts said. The International Monetary Fund slashed its forecast for global economic growth forecasts, warning the eurozone sovereign debt crisis threatens to capsize the global recovery. The three main stock indexes spent the day in the red but finished off opening losses. But market action was "lackluster" as many participants were preparing for the next round of earnings results, Briefing.com analysts said. Investors also kept an eye on the opening of a two-day policy meeting of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Open Market Committee was expected to keep ultra-low interest rates unchanged. Earnings results from blue-chip Dow members were mixed. Chemicals giant DuPont edged up 0.1 percent after reporting a slight fall in fourth-quarter profit. Another Dow member, pharmaceuticals and health-care company Johnson & Johnson, ended unchanged after posting a decline in profit for the full year that steepened in the final quarter. Also on the Dow, McDonald's shares fell 2.2 percent after announcing an 11 percent rise in quarterly earnings. The fast-food giant said it plans to invest about $2.9 billion this year, half of it for opening more than 1,300 new restaurants and the remainder for renovation of existing ones. SPX Service Solutions, a US maker of car service tools, workshop equipment and software, jumped 1.6 percent. Germany's Bosch said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire SPX for $1.15 billion. After the market closed, Apple and Yahoo! reported their earnings. Apple reported a record $13.06 billion net profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2012 and record revenue of $46.33 billion. Apple shares, which had closed 1.6 percent lower, were up 0.4 percent in after-hours trading. Ailing Internet giant Yahoo! said its fourth-quarter net earnings slid 5.3 percent from a year earlier, as revenues dropped 13 percent. Yahoo! shares were flat for the session and in post-market trading. Bonds prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 2.06 percent from 2.07 percent from Monday, while the 30-year rose to 3.16 percent from 3.16 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.