Stocks ended mixed as investors weighed decent corporate earnings reports against worries about the debt ceiling and global economic growth. Also, industrial production rose for a second month in December on increased demand for business equipment. Consumer prices for U.S. goods and services held flat in December, with prices rising 1.7% for all of 2012. J.P. Morgan rose 1% after the bank reported fourth-quarter profit that exceeded estimates and 2012 revenue down from the prior year. Goldman Sachs climbed 4.1% as the bank’s quarterly profit nearly tripled. Boeing led the blue-chip slide, losing 3.4%, after Japan’s two largest airlines grounded all their 787 Dreamliner planes as a safety precaution after one made an emergency landing. Apple gained 4.15% after several brokers issued positive notes on Apple before the open, pointing to strong results expected for the first fiscal quarter; the company will report next week. Google slipped 1.3% as some analysts speculated on the potential impact of Facebook’s “graph search” tool to Google’s core Web search business. Hewlett-Packard rose 4.1% after a Wall Street Journal report citing unnamed sources that potential buyers have expressed interest in acquiring Autonomy Corp. In the evening trade eBay was up 0.75% after the company reported earnings and revenue slightly above expectations.
