Cyclicals drag S&P 500 lower; Microsoft, Alphabet keep Nasdaq flat

The Nasdaq ended little changed on Wednesday, boosted by gains in Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet on the heels of their quarterly results, but a drop in oil prices and a pullback in Treasury yields weighed on cyclical sectors and pulled the S&P 500 lower.

Microsoft Corp gained 4.21% to close at a record high after forecasting a strong end to the calendar year, fueled in part by its booming cloud business. Alphabet Inc jumped 4.96% after reporting a record quarterly profit on a surge in ad sales.

The gains in the two stocks accounted for nearly 90 points to the upside in the tech-heavy Nasdaq while Microsoft was the biggest boost to the Dow Industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq.