US open: Dow and Nasdaq slides on disappointing earnings

US equities slid early on Wednesday, as a string of disappointing earnings from tech heavyweights disappointed Wall Street.

Just after 1500 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 16 points to 17,90.305, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were off by six and 48 points respectively.

Apple, Microsoft disappoint

Investors were left unimpressed by a raft of earnings report late on Tuesday night, with stocks still under pressure on Wednesday.

Apple tumbled 5% after the tech giant posted quarterly earnings and revenue just above expectations, as a number of analysts downgraded the stock on concerns over growth in China.

Shipments for iPhone, the group’s biggest product by sales and revenue, came in at 47.5m, marginally above analysts’ expectations calling for a 47.2m figure but down from the 61.2m unit Apple shipped in the previous quarter.

“The reason Apple shares fell so much may reflect the surprise at no singled-out data on the Apple Watch,” said CMC Markets’ analyst Jasper Lawler.

“The market interpretation is that the watch sales must be disappointing and that’s why they were listed alongside other peripheral Apple products and services.”

Sector peer Microsoft shed 0.88% after its second quarter results suffered from restructuring charges and soft demand for its legacy software products.

Yahoo! was off 1.82% after its second quarter results fell short of expectations on the back of rising costs.

The internet search provider added it will carry on with its cost-cutting strategy despite cutting over 1,300 full-time jobs over the last quarter.

Among the companies that reported ahead of the bell on Wednesday, with Coca-Cola and Boeing rose 0.85% 2.60% respectively, after both posted better-than-expected quarterly results, although both firms reported a decline in revenue.

eBay slid 0.17% after analysts at Raymond James downgraded their rating on the stock from 'outperform' to 'perform', while GoPro declined 2.25% even though the same brokerage lifted its target price on the stock from $63 to $71 in the wake of impressive quarterly results.

Wednesday data

Sales of existing homes rose 3.2% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.49m, their fastest pace since February 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Meanwhile, US home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in May, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said, adding prices were up 5.7% year-on-year in the period.

"The continued solid employment growth and gradual pick-up in wage inflation as supporting household disposable incomes in the coming quarters, which makes us optimistic about housing demand and home appreciation in the near term," analysts at Barclays said in a note.

Gold slump continues

Elsewhere, European stocks slid as the force of Wall Street’s disappointing earnings was felt across the Atlantic, while Asian equities closed mostly lower.

The dollar was broadly flat against the yen but lost 0.46% against the pound and gained 0.33% against the euro, while gold futures fell for the 10th session in a row, losing 1.45% to $1,087.50.

Oil prices tumbled, with West Texas Intermediate losing 1.86% to $49.93 a barrel, while Brent fell 1.04% to $56.25 a barrel.