Wall Street Edges Up Despite Facebook Slide

Facebook, down 3.92 percent, was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, after the company warned that Apple's new privacy changes would weigh on its digital business. Shares of the social media company closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since March 8, a technical support level that could indicate further declines.

"Facebook has other issues, certainly the earnings report wasn't as stellar," said Ken Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital Advisors in Boca Raton, Florida.

"Then pile on the issues with the whistleblower, what they knew, what they didn't know, how they set themselves up to benefit themselves even at the risk of kids and people that use the platform. That is going to kind of hang over it."

However, the benchmark S&P index scored a new high, lifted by names with big market capitalizations. Nvidia Corp gained 6.70 percent to close at a record high of US$247.17, while Amazon.com advanced 1.68 percent and Apple rose 0.46 percent.

Support also came from a 6.95 percent advance in United Parcel Service and a 2.03 percent rise in General Electric on the heels of their quarterly results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.04 percent, to 35,757; the S&P 500 gained 0.18 percent, at 4,575; and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.06 percent, at 15,236.

Earnings at S&P 500 companies are expected to grow 35.6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, with market participants gauging how companies are navigating supply-chain bottlenecks, labor shortages and inflationary pressures.

"(The market) is getting tired. They ran them up ahead of earnings because everyone is expecting them to be good and robust, and they are ... but the market feels tired to me now way up here," said Polcari.

After the closing bell, Microsoft Corp gained 1.29 percent while Google parent Alphabet slipped 0.24 percent following their quarterly results. (Reuters)