With Earnings Rolling In, Flat Markets Seek Direction Wall Street opened little changed on Wednesday as corporate earnings provided investors with little reason to buy in a stock market that has been unable to find its footing after a strong rally last year. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.13 percent after the opening bell, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 0.09 percent and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.21 percent. IBM shares lost 3.2 percent after the opening bell after the world's biggest technology services company missed revenue expectations for a fourth straight quarter amid weakening demand, particularly in growth markets like China. A fellow Dow component, the United Technologies Corporation, gained 1.23 percent after the world's largest maker of elevators and air conditioners reported higher fourth-quarter profit that topped Wall Street estimates, although revenue fell shy of expectations. After a 29.6 percent jump in the S.&P. 500 in 2013, the index has edged down 0.2 percent so far in 2014. Coach tumbled 7.14 percent after it said sales in North America fell further in the final quarter of 2013, as it lost share in the handbag business to fast-growing rivals such as Michael Kors Holdings and Kate Spade. Advanced Micro Devices slumped 10.3 percent after the chipmaker forecast a steeper-than-expected fall in current quarter revenue, saying sales of gaming consoles were not growing fast enough to offset slowing PC sales. After the closing bell on Wednesday, earnings are expected from eBay, Netflix, Varian Medical Systems and F5 Networks. A total of 26 S.&P. 500 companies are scheduled to report earnings on Wednesday. European shares gave up early gains as mixed earnings reports kept the market from pushing through recent resistance. Asian share markets rose slightly, led by gains in Chinese shares after China's central bank poured funds into money markets, easing immediate credit strains ahead of the lunar new year. Merger and acquisition activity continued at a brisk pace, as companies flush with cash looked for ways to create growth. The cloud software maker VMWare said it would buy the privately held mobile security company AirWatch in a deal valued at about $1.54 billion to tap into rising demand for software security. Its shares lost 1.3 percent at the open. Mohamed El-Erian, the heir apparent to the Pimco co-founder Bill Gross, will step down as chief executive and co-chief investment officer, raising questions about the future course of the Pacific Investment Management Company, the world's largest bond fund manager.