US stocks trade mixed as investors weigh solid earnings against continued bank stress

• US stocks were mixed on Wednesday after strong earnings from Microsoft boosted tech shares.
• Microsoft surged 7% after it reported solid growth in its cloud division and talked about its opportunity in AI.
• First Republic Bank plunged as the company continues to search for a rescue deal.

US stocks were mixed on Wednesday after big-tech earnings from Microsoft and Alphabet helped boost technology shares while continued stress in the US banking sector dragged down the rest of the market.

Shares of Microsoft surged as much as 9% after the company reported solid growth in its Azure Cloud division and talked up the potential it sees in artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, Alphabet said its Google Cloud division generated a quarterly profit for the first time on record.

But a poor earnings report from First Republic Bank sent the stock to new all time lows as it failed to stem deposit outflows. The bank continues to search for a rescue deal from larger banks.

So far, 28% of S&P 500 companies have reported first-quarter results. Of those companies, 78% beat profit estimates by a median of 7%, while 71% beat revenue estimates by a median of 4%, according to data from Fundstrat.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:

• S&P 500: 4,055.99, down 0.38%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,301.87, down 0.68% (228.96 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 11,854.35, up 0.47%

Here's what else happened today:

• Activision Blizzard fell 9% after a UK regulator said it would block the proposed merger between the video game company and Microsoft.
• Peter Lynch gave credit to Warren Buffett for investing in Apple stock when he didn't, even though he saw a big profit opportunity for the iPod over a decade ago.
• Tesla has lost $140 billion in market value in under a month after it reported earnings and implemented price cuts for its vehicles.
• Bitcoin jumped as much as 9% on Wednesday, nearing the key price level of $30,000, as banking sector concerns re-emerged.
• Here's what Wall Street had to say about Microsoft's quarterly earnings report, which included a lot of hype about artificial intelligence.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 3.78% to $74.16 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped 3.96% to $77.57.
• Gold fell 0.20% to $2,000.50 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell one basis point to 3.38%.
• Bitcoin rose 2% $28,122, while ether edged up 0.4% to $1,844.