Wall Street holds near record highs

U.S. stocks ended almost flat Wednesday and held near record highs, with the S&P 500 closing above the 2,000-point mark for a second straight day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 15.31 points, or 0.09 percent, to 17,122.01. The S&P 500 gained 0.10 point, less than 0. 01 percent, to 2,000.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.02 points, or 0.02 percent, to 4,569.62.

The stock market took a breather, with the S&P 500 wavering in a tight range around 2,000 points after the benchmark index closed above the milestone level for the first time on Monday.

In absence of important economic data, major stock indices opened slightly higher and flirted with their record levels amid better-than-expected earnings from luxury goods retailer Tiffany.

Tiffany reported strong second-quarter results helped by solid sales growth in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions early Wednesday. Its net income jumped 16 percent year over year to 124 million U.S. dollars, or 96 cents per share, in the second quarter, while net sales rose 7.2 percent. It also raised full-year profit outlook.

Investors also focused on China's e-commerce giant Alibaba's upbeat earnings for the most recent quarter released in its latest filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday. Alibaba is expected to launch its initial public offering soon after Labor Day at the New York Stock Exchange.

According to its amended prospectus, Alibaba's net income almost tripled from a year ago to 1.99 billion dollars in the three months ending June 30, or 84 cents per diluted share, as revenue surged 46 percent to 2.54 billion dollars.

Investors are awaiting the Commerce Department's second estimate of U.S. gross domestic product for the second quarter scheduled for release Thursday.

Preliminary data from the department showed the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 4 percent in the second quarter after unexpectedly shrinking in the first three months of this year due to severe winter weather.

On the previous trading day, both the S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow set record highs, as data showed that U.S. durable orders in July jumped the most since 1992 and U.S. July consumer confidence reached the highest level since October 2007.