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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Cisco's disappointing earnings forecast and a fresh record high for crude oil were among the factors hurting stocks Wednesday, after two upbeat sessions.
As of 6 p.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures pointed to a mixed open Thursday, when fair value is taken into account.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (down 16.38 to 2,157.81, Charts) slumped 0.75 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average (down 21.26 to 10,594.41, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 2.25 to 1,229.13, Charts) index lost around 0.2 percent.
All three indexes had risen through the early afternoon but turned negative amid a spike in oil prices and some selling pressure in technology.
"We started the day on a very upbeat note...[but] the rise in oil prices continues to haunt investors," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany.
U.S. light crude oil for September delivery surged $1.83 to settle at $64.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a new record high. Oil prices hit that record despite a mostly upbeat weekly oil inventory report.
Cisco Systems (down $1.36 to $18.25, Research) slumped nearly 7 percent and was the Nasdaq's most-active issue after the company issued fiscal first-quarter guidance late Tuesday that missed analysts' forecasts. The outlook overshadowed the tech leader's improved fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue report.
The weakness in Cisco hit other networkers, pushing the Amex Networking (down 4.88 to 220.15, Charts) index down 2.2 percent. It was the hardest hit tech sector and dragged on the Nasdaq.
After the close, News Corp reported earnings of 22 cents per share, up from a year ago, and more than expected.
Earnings due Thursday include Target in the early morning and Dell after the close.
Thursday's biggest market mover is "probably the retail sales report," said Tim Heekin, head of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners. Investors will be eyeing the morning report to see how consumer spending held up in July.
Thursday also brings the weekly jobless claims report.
What moved?
Walt Disney (down $0.67 to $25.47, Research) reported quarterly earnings late Tuesday that rose from a year earlier and topped estimates on revenue that rose from a year ago. However, the revenue gains were lower than expected, and Disney shares fell 2.6 percent, weighing on the Dow.
The Dow 30 tech components all slid, with Hewlett-Packard (down $0.41 to $24.14, Research), IBM (down $1.48 to $82.02, Research), Intel (down $0.01 to $26.88, Research) and Microsoft (down $0.40 to $26.95, Research) all down more than 1 percent.
Blockbuster (down $0.39 to $6.70, Research) posted a quarterly loss late Tuesday that was more than double Wall Street's forecast, sending shares of the movie rental chain down 5.5 percent.
On the upside, the rise in oil prices gave a lift to oil services stocks. The Philadelphia Oil Services Sector (Charts) index added 2 percent.
Maytag (up $0.36 to $19.00, Research) shares gained nearly 2 percent after Whirlpool (down $1.49 to $81.53, Research) upwardly revised its buyout offer for the third time, now offering $21 a share.
Federated Department Stores (up $0.93 to $73.69, Research) reported improved quarterly earnings Wednesday morning that were in line with forecasts, and shares gained modestly.
AIG (up $0.82 to $62.24, Research) shares rose 1.3 percent, helping protect the Dow from bigger losses, after the troubled insurer reported improved second-quarter earnings and revenue late Tuesday, due to accounting gains and strength at its consumer finance and international life insurance units.
The Dow component saw its CEO step down earlier in the year amid state and federal probes into its past accounting practices.
Other Dow gainers included American Express (up $0.91 to $56.50, Research), which was upgraded by Morgan Stanley.
Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers topped decliners nine to seven on volume of 1.67 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, losers edged out winners eight to seven on volume of 1.86 billion shares.
Stocks had jumped Tuesday after the central bank boosted the Fed funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate, by a quarter percentage point to 3.5 percent. It was the 10th hike in a row since the Fed began raising rates last summer.
In the closely watched statement, the Fed stuck to essentially the same message from the June meeting -- namely that the economy is strong and so far the impact of higher energy prices is modest.
Treasury prices ended slightly lower, with the yield on the 10-year note at 4.39 percent, unchanged from late Tuesday.
In currency trading, the dollar was little changed versus the euro and was weaker versus the yen.
COMEX gold rose $2.20 to settle at $442.00 an ounce.
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