Investors had a lot to consider in New York on Wednesday?enthusiasm about the tech sector brought on by healthy profits helped drive the Nasdaq, but it was not enough to fuel a rally in the broader market, with the Dow ending slightly lower and S&P 500 ending little changed after the Federal Reserve sounded a note of caution on the economy. US crude oil hit a record $89 by midday, before reversing gains to end lower for the first time in seven sessions.

The economic news of the day was also taken into consideration, the Census Bureau reported housing starts were down 10 per cent in September, and the number of housing permits which indicates builder's confidence in the market, slumped 7 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported consumer inflation rose at an annual rate of 3.6 per cent in September compared to an increase of 2.5 per cent for all of 2006. The fast growth reflects higher energy and food costs.

Turning to the markets; Dow Jones Industrials lost 20 points to 13,893; the S&P500 gained just 3 points to 1,541, but the Nasdaq gained 29 points to 2,793.

In company news, investors were cheering Yahoo! Wednesday. Shares in the search engine were up 7.98% to $28.82 after it posted quarterly results that beat expectations, and improved its outlook. Yahoo had been under pressure to change its business plan after a string of earnings disappointments stretching back to 2006. It now says it will focus on being the number one spot for online finance, sports and news.

Intel shares also helped drive the Nasdaq. Shares in the world's top chip-maker gained 4.87% to $26.72 after it posted a 43 per cent rise in quarterly profits and also improved its outlook based on strong demand. The news indicated that the world's top maker of microchips was gaining market share from its smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices. Europe and Asia showed the strongest growth.

In other news, shares in JPMorgan Chase rose 2.79% to $46.37. The bank's third quarter net profit rose more than 2 per cent as gains from private-equity investments helped offset over $1.5 billion in write-downs on leveraged loans and collateralized debt obligations. However, escalating losses on home equity loans are a still problem; the bank has upped its estimated quarterly losses to around $270 million over the next several quarters.

And finally, shares in Coca-Cola were up 2.3% to $59.09 after the world's largest beverage company announced quarterly profit rose a better-than-expected 13 per cent on strong international sales, the weak dollar and a lower tax rate.

To the best and worst performers in the Nasdaq Top 100. YAHOO! topped the list because of those results mentioned earlier. NVidia and EBay shares also did well.

Paccar was the worst performer, falling 5.27% to $52.66 after a couple of brokerages downgraded its stock after the company posted a weak outlook. Intuitive Surgical and EchoStar Communications also lost value on Wednesday.