The Dow’s seven-day surge hit a roadblock on Wednesday after another avalanche of earnings, but positive results from Apple and Starbucks sent the Nasdaq Composite to its first 11-day win streak since 1996.

Today’s Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34.68 points, or 0.39%, to 8881.26, the Standard & Poor's 500 sank 0.51 points, or 0.05%, to 954.07 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 10.18 points, or 0.53%, to 1926.38. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 dropped 0.04 points, or 0.01%, to 703.39.

Despite the mixed finish, the bullish sentiment on Wall Street doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Analysts were surprised the markets didn’t lose more ground considering the Dow had surged 770 points in just seven sessions. 

“The very tame selloff we’re seeing this afternoon is almost inconsequential,” said Peter Kenny, managing director of Knight Capital Markets. “We’ve had a very nice winning streak here. Now we have a healthy, normal and expected correction that could extend to 3% to 5%. But I think there’s a healthy bid to the market.”

Once again the markets were dominated by a flood of earnings reports as bellwethers like Pfizer (PFE), Boeing (BA) and Apple (AAPL) all beat the Street, continuing the successful start to earnings season. The big exception was Morgan Stanley (MS), which posted its third-straight loss but saw its shares close flat on the day.  

“The expectations are so low that they are below sea level. The entire index is going off of the bellwether stocks and that’s going to lift all of the ships,” NSYE trader Jason Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business. “The market tells me we are going a lot higher.”

It's not surprising to see the Dow take a breather as the index had posted its longest win streak in more than two years amid renewed economic optimism and impressive cost-cutting moves from Corporate America. The index was led lower Wednesday by Caterpillar (CAT) and Coca-Cola (KO. On the upside, Travelers (TRV) and General Electric (GE) were the biggest percentage winners. 

The Nasdaq Composite closed higher for the 11th consecutive session, its longest streak since September 1996. Tech stocks like Garmin (GRMN) and Broadcom (BRCM) rallied around Apple's results. 

The biggest drag on the markets Wednesday was the energy sector, which fell nearly 1% as crude oil's five-day win streak came to an end. Crude fell 21 cents a barrel, or 0.32%, to $65.40 after a new inventory report showed crude stockpiles tumbled by nearly 2 millions barrels and gasoline inventories rose by 800,000 barrels. 

Wall Street had a mixed response to the latest flood of earnings reports as shares of Boeing, Whirlpool (WHR), Bank of New York (BK), Eli Lilly (LLY), and Pepsico (PEP) all slumped despite beating the Street. On the other hand, Starbucks (SBUX) enjoyed its best one-day rally ever after its positive results and Apple and U.S. Bancorp (USB) jumped 3% a piece on their earnings beats. 

But much of the focus was on the financial sector as Morgan Stanley dealt Wall Street a setback by reporting an 87% plunge in net income amid charges.  In its third-straight quarterly loss, Morgan posted an adjusted-loss of $1.37 a share, much worse than the loss of 49 cent a share the Street had been bracing for.

At the same time, Wells Fargo (WFC) tumbled almost 4% after posting a record profit of 57 cents per share thanks to last quarter’s mortgage refinance boom. But Wells Fargo continues to suffer from credit losses as its nonperforming assets surged 45%, raising fears the bank needs to raise more cash.

While there weren’t any major economic reports released, the markets once again paid attention to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who testified on Capitol Hill about the state of the economy.

Corporate Movers

Starbucks (SBUX) enjoyed its best rally since its IPO in 1992, surging nearly 19% to 52-week highs after posting an adjusted-profit of 24 cents per share, 5 cents better than analysts had been looking for. The company offset a 6.6% decline in net revenue with a $175 million reduction in costs during the quarter.

Goldman Sach (GS) freed itself from TARP by paying back the government’s warrants for $1.1 billion, or 23% annualized return on the original $10 billion investment.

Apple (AAPL) saw its shares jump a day after the tech titan posted a better-than-expected 15% rise in quarterly profit. The tech giant also topped estimates by selling 5.2 million iPhones, seven times more than a year earlier.

Pfizer (PFE) posted a better-than-expected 19% tumble in net income amid lower Lipitor sales but the drug maker boosted its 2009 profit view. Pfizer earned 48 cents per share excluding one-time items, one cent better than analysts expected. However, the Dow component’s revenue missed estimates, sinking 9.4% to $10.98 billion. 

Boeing’s (BA) quarterly profit climbed 17% on solid growth in its defense business, topping Wall Street’s estimates. The world’s second-largest plane manufacturer earned $1.41 per share, 20 cents better than expected. Boeing left its 2009 guidance unchanged and said it expects to release a new 787 Dreamliner schedule some time this year.

Proctor & Gamble (PG) is closing in on a deal to sell its prescription-drug business, possibly to specialty drug maker Warner Chilcott or private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, The Wall Street Journal reported. The P&G unit could sell for $3 billion, the paper reported.

U.S. Bancorp (USB) suffered a 76% plunge in quarterly profit amid soaring credit losses but the Midwest regional bank’s EPS of 12 cents topped estimates by 2 cents. The bank doubled its set aside for credit losses in the quarter to $1.4 billion, offsetting record mortgage lending.

PepsiCo (PEP), the nation's second-largest beverage maker, exceeded estimates with an adjusted-profit of $1.02 per share even as revenue slid 3% to $10.59 billion. The company also backed its full-year guidance.

Whirlpool (WHR) easily beat the Street with a quarterly profit of $1.04 per share, well above the 67 cents analysts had been expecting. The appliance maker offset an 18% dive in sales with a slew of cost-cutting moves like freezing salaries and lower capital spending. Whirpool also raised the lower end of its 2009 profit guidance.

Altria (MO) weighed in with a better-than-expected 8.6% jump in quarterly profit amid a 32% jump in revenue to $6.72 billion. The maker of Marlboro cigarettes boosted its 2009 earnings guidance above the Street’s view.

Intel (INTC) filed an appeal of the $1.5 billion fine imposed by European Union regulators in May, the Journal reported. A ruling isn’t expected for more than a year.

Delta Air Lines (DAL), which merged with Northwest Airlines last year, posted another quarterly loss and warned in a memo obtained by Reuters that it no longer expects to be profitable this year. Delta’s results topped expectations as it lost 24 cents per share excluding items on a 27% tumble in revenue to $7 billion.

Global Markets

European stocks rallied for the eighth day in a row as London's FTSE 100 rose 0.28% to 4493.73, France's CAC 40 gained 0.07% to 3305.07 and Germany's DAX jumped 0.54% to 5121.56. 

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.74% to 9723.16, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 1.3% to 19248.17 and China's Shanghai Composite jumped 2.6% to 3296.62.