File photo (Picture credit: AP)

US stocks are trading largely flat on Wednesday as investors await earnings results from electric carmaker Tesla, while gold prices extended their decline from record highs.According to news agency AP, the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% in early trading, staying just below its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 65 points, or 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite lost 0.3% as of 9:35 am Eastern time. The Dow was down less than 0.2% at 46,845.30, the S&P 500 was nearly unchanged at 6,731.94, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.2% to 22,916.49.Investors remained focused on corporate earnings. Bank stocks such as Capital One Financial and Western Alliance Bancorp held steady after reporting stronger-than-expected summer profits. Intuitive Surgical surged 16.5%, and GE Vernova added 0.5% following robust quarterly results. Netflix, however, saw its shares tumble 8.2% after missing profit estimates, while AT&T fell 4.5% and Texas Instruments dropped 7.7%.Among notable movers, Beyond Meat continued its meme-stock surge, soaring 48.9% on Wednesday — extending its weekly gain to nearly 735%, according to AP. The rally followed Walmart’s announcement to expand Beyond Meat products to over 2,000 US stores.Victoria Fernandez of Crossmark Global Investments was quoted by news agency AFP as saying, “Earnings is really key,” adding that strong profit margins and earnings data had been “driving the market.”Meanwhile, gold prices slipped 0.8% to $4,075 per ounce after Tuesday’s 5.3% fall knocked it off record highs. Despite the pullback, prices remain up more than 50% this year. As per AP, The retreat followed growing criticism that gold had “gone too far, too fast.”In global markets, London’s FTSE 100 rose 1% on hopes of a UK interest rate cut, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and Paris’s CAC 40 slipped 0.2%.The 10-year US Treasury yield eased slightly to 3.96% from 3.98% the previous day, as per AP.