US stocks dipped in early afternoon trading on Thursday, after staying flat for most of the morning, as disappointing earnings reports from Intel and others outweighed the handful of promising reports. Intel shares were down 4.3 percent at $34.14 after it reported slowing revenue growth at its key data centre business.
The stock was the biggest drag on the S&P and Nasdaq. It also pulled the S&P technology index 0.5 percent lower. Fellow chipmaker Qualcomm was the biggest positive influence on the S&P and Nasdaq, rising 7.4 percent after its results and forecast topped estimates.
Biogen was up 6.9 percent at $280.42 after strong results. The stock led the health sector 0.35 percent higher, making it the only gainer among the 10 major S&P sectors. Southwest Airlines fell 8.7 percent and weighed on other airline stocks after it forecast a drop in a key profitability metric for the third quarter. At 12:43 pm ET (1643 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 80.61 points, or 0.43 percent, at 18,514.42.
The S&P 500 was down 6.44 points, or 0.3 percent, at 2,166.58. The index had earlier come within a point of its previous record. The Nasdaq Composite was down 10.24 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,079.70.