Stocks near record highs as earnings remain mixed

Stocks hovered just below record highs on Wall Street Wednesday as investors weighed mixed corporate earnings and a pullback in gold after a steep run-up earlier this year. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent and sat just under its all-time high set earlier this month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 99 points, or 0.2 percent, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.3 percent as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern.

Bank shares held relatively steady after several lenders, including Capital One Financial and Western Alliance Bancorp, reported stronger-than-expected summer profits. Western Alliance's results were particularly notable because the bank had recently contributed to jitters about loan quality in the industry. Several institutions have warned of potentially problematic loans on their books, in some cases linked to suspected fraud, prompting investor scrutiny of bank balance sheets.

Earnings news diverged across sectors. Intuitive Surgical, a maker of robotic-assisted surgical systems, jumped about 16.3 percent and Boston Scientific rose roughly 4.2 percent after both reported quarterly profits that surpassed analysts' forecasts. By contrast, Netflix tumbled about 8.6 percent...