The Nasdaq rose on Wednesday as solid profits from technology bellwether Apple Inc and coffee chain Starbucks Corp overshadowed disappointing bank results and a pullback in energy shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged lower and the S&P 500 index was near break-even.

Apple, up 4 percent to $157.53, was a top boost to the Nasdaq a day after the iPod maker posted a quarterly profit above forecasts. Starbucks, up 17.7 percent to $17.29, was the next standout after its third-quarter earnings also topped estimates.

Their advance put the Nasdaq on course for its eleventh-straight daily climb, which would be its longest winning streak since September 1996. Apple and Starbucks are among stocks that investors study to gauge consumer spending trends.

Today's action is a relative positive in that you had some earnings come out that were good, but we are actually near the top of the range, said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati.

There's a kind of a pause until we get more news on both the earnings and the economic front.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 12.24 points, or 0.14 percent, to 8,903.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 1.83 points, or 0.19 percent, to 956.41. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 11.98 points, or 0.63 percent, to 1,928.18.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average, which briefly hit a fresh 2009 intraday high earlier in the session, were curbed following disappointing results from banks, including Wells Fargo & Co

Bank of New York Mellon slid 5.7 percent to $27.46 after the world's largest trust bank posted a 43 percent drop in second-quarter profit.

Profit-taking in some of the market's recent winners, including Coca-Cola Co , down 2.5 percent at $49.10, also dragged on the broader market.

International Business Machines Corp shed 1.1 percent to $115.78, while Caterpillar Inc dipped 2 percent to $38.67, a day after leading the Dow to its seventh-straight daily advance on news of a strong profit.

On the energy front, shares of Exxon Mobil Corp dipped 0.2 percent to $70.32 as oil prices retreated .

U.S. crude futures settled at $65.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 21 cents or 0.32 percent.

Investors are looking ahead to quarterly results from eBay Inc , due after the closing bell, and Microsoft Corp , due Thursday, for more clues about consumer and business spending.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday that the U.S. economic outlook is improving, but that supportive policies would be necessary for a while to prevent rising joblessness from sapping the recovery.

(Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

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