-- The S&P 500 eked out a gain Wednesday, as rising Treasury yields and weakness in industrials weighed, but a spike in Tesla helped tech add to gains ahead of another round of earnings from big tech.  

At 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), the rise 0.02%, the gained 0.1%, while the fell 0.1%, or 42 points.

Tesla leads tech higher as Magnificent Seven to continue earnings parade; TSM helps chips rise

Tesla (NASDAQ:) stock jumped 12%, rebounding from a 15-month low hit earlier this week, after the electric vehicle manufacturer said it was accelerating the launch of new EV models including more affordable options, to the second half of 2025.

A cheap EV model could represent the next leg of growth for Tesla, and also enable more sales of its high-margin self-driving software. 

The tech sector will remain in focus Wednesday, as Facebook-owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) will report earnings after the close, followed by tech giants Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) on Thursday.

As well as big tech, chip stocks were in ascendency following a nearly 6% rise in Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:) rose following Q1 results that topped Wall Street estimates and upbeat guidance for Q2. 

Industrials slip on Boeing, UPS, Jetblue pressure 

Boeing (NYSE:) stock fell more than 2% after Mody’s Ratings downgraded Boeing’s credit rating to Baa3 from Baa2, a notch above 'junk' status. 

The aircraft manufacturer had been more than 4% intraday following first-quarter revenue beat expectations. Adding to negative sentiment on the aircraft maker U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that Boeing would have to meet convince the Federal Aviation Administration that it has address quality control issues within the 90-day deadline before it can boost production of its 737 MAX jets. 

Service Inc (NYSE:), meanwhile, also dragged industrials lower after the courier service company reported mixed Q1 results as earnings beat, but revenue missed expectations following a 3.2% drop in shipping volumes.

JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ:) moved off its lows of the day, but still dragged other airline stocks lower after falling 3% on worries about slowing growth after the airline forecast a steeper than expected drop in revenue for Q2.  

Uber (NYSE:), down 2%, also weighed on industrials on worries about rising competition after Tesla said it planned to foray into ride-hailing.

Humana slumps despite Q1 beat, Hasbro shines on earnings podium

(NYSE:) fell more than 3% despite the health insurer beating first-quarter profit expectations.

Hasbro (NASDAQ:) gained nearly 12% after the toymaker reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter sales and handily beat profit estimates.

Energy stocks inch higher as oil prices dip weighs

Energy stocks closed just above the flatline, as gains were kept in checked by  weaker oil prices even as the data showed a surprise    in U.S. inventories.

inventories fell by 6.4 million barrels in the week ended April 19, confounding expectations for a 1.6M increase.

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)