NEW YORK, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 22,000 milestone for the first time on Wednesday, as shares of Apple soared following strong quarterly earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 52.32 points, or 0.24 percent, to 22,016.24. The S&P 500 rose 1.22 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,477.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index ticked down 0.29 points, or less than 0.01 percent, to 6,362.65.
After Tuesday's closing bell, Apple announced quarterly revenue of 45.4 billion U.S. dollars and quarterly earnings per diluted share of 1.67 dollars. Analysts polled by Reuters expected earnings per share of 1.57 dollars on revenue of 44.89 billion U.S. dollars.
Shares of the tech giant rallied 4.73 percent on Wednesday, and drove the Dow above 22,000 for the first time ever.
This earning season has been strong so far and has broadly been supportive of stock market recently.
Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the second quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 11.4 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 4.9 percent.
Some analysts, however, said the tech sector might continue to face pressure from profit-taking following upbeat earnings.
Meanwhile, investors also turned their eyes to a slew of economic data, as they tried to find clues on when the Federal Reserve might start the balance sheet reduction.
U.S. private sector employment increased by 178,000 jobs from June to July, well below market consensus of 185,000, said the July ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday.
The ADP report is often seen as a preview for the closely-watched U.S. nonfarm payrolls data due out on Friday.
