Microsoft figures pulled the US stock market into the red

new York Disappointing numbers and forecast at Microsoft weighed on US investor sentiment on Wednesday. The Dow Jones stagnated at 33,744 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.2 percent to 11,313 points and the broad-based S&P 500 closed little changed at 4,016 points.

“Equities are back in the red as investors appear to be bracing themselves for a disappointing earnings season from the big tech companies,” said market strategist Craig Erlam of trading house Oanda. “Earnings painted a more realistic picture of the outlook for this year as investors seemed to convince themselves that was the case. Layoffs, missed headlines and poor forecasts are fast becoming the norm.”