Stocks are mostly lower in early trading as corporate earnings come in mixed; Boeing slips

Stocks are mostly lower in early trading as traders look over a mixed batch of earnings reports.

Whirlpool, Ryder systems and Boeing all fell Wednesday morning after reporting their latest quarterly results.

Apple was slightly higher after its earnings report late Tuesday came in ahead of what investors were looking for. Apple sold 35.2 million iPhones in the latest quarter, 13 percent more than in the same period a year earlier.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was little changed at 1,984 in the first few minutes of trading. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,084 and the Nasdaq composite edged up 10 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,466.

Falling stocks narrowly outpaced rising ones on the New York Stock Exchange.