While you were sleeping: Wall St flat, results mixed

Wall Street fluctuated as biotech stocks declined amid accusations of fraud at Valeant Pharmaceuticals, while the latest US earnings offered disappointments such as Yahoo and Chipotle Mexican Grill and stellar surprises such as General Motors.

In New York trading at about 1.37pm, the Dow Jones industrial average inched 0.05% higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 0.7%.

In the Dow, gains in shares of United Technologies and those of Travelers, last up 3.1% and 2% respectively, outweighed slides in shares of UnitedHealth and those of Pfizer, last down 3.8% and 2.6% respectively.

Shares of Yahoo dropped, last 4.6% lower, after the company reported earnings that fell short of the mark and underpinned concern about its outlook.

Shares of Valeant plunged nearly 40% amid accusations of fraud. Trading in the stock was briefly halted, as the company issued a statement responding to claims by Citron Research.

Citron Research says Valeant is using a specialty pharmacy called Philidor RX Services to store inventory and record those transactions as sales, according to Bloomberg.

"Is this Enron part Deux?" says the Citron Research report. "These similarities are too close to ignore."

Valeant refuted the "erroneous report.”

In health care news, shares of Aetna and Humana as well as those of Anthem and Cigna slid after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton warned she had "serious concerns" about the companies' proposed mergers.

There were solid earnings too. Shares of General Motors jumped 6% after the car maker posted a record quarterly profit.

"These results reflect our work to capitalise on our strengths in the US and China, while taking decisive, proactive steps to mitigate challenges elsewhere," GM chief executive Mary Barra says.

"GM is a vastly different company today than just five years ago. We're building a strong foundation, driving earnings growth in our core business and executing a plan to lead the future of personal mobility, all with the aim of creating shareholder value for years to come."

Shares of Boeing added 1.8% after the plane maker upgraded its full-year earnings outlook.

"Earnings reports have been more good than bad so far, but the real meat of earnings will be in the next two weeks," Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities equity trading managing director Michael James told Bloomberg. "There's not enough to draw from to make a broad conclusion yet."

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the session with a fall that was less than 0.1% from the previous close. The UK's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.1%, France's CAC 40 Index gained 0.4%, while Germany's DAX Index climbed 0.9%.

(BusinessDesk)