Stocks ended mostly lower, though the Dow Jones Industrial Average appeared to cling to a tiny gain Wednesday, with the market unable to fully shake off weak earnings from tech behemoths Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -7.72% and Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG, -9.63% GOOGL, -9.14%. The Dow DJIA, +0.01% ended with a gain of just over 3 points, or less than 0.1%, according to preliminary figures. If the gain holds, the blue-chip gauge will have extended its winning streak to four sessions. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.74% ended with a loss of 0.7%, while the Nasdaq COMP, -2.04% shed 2%. Microsoft ended the day with a loss of 7.7%, while Alphabet shares dropped more than 9%. The tech sector fell 2.2%, while communications services, which includes Alphabet, dropped 4.7% to lead the way lower.
