The markets traded mixed during the midday with the Dow falling 40 points to 20,050 while Nasdaq rose 7 points to 5,681.
Online tax filing provider TurboTax slashed its second quarter earnings and revenue guidance citing a sharp 29% drop in filings from last year at this time. The IRS also reported that the number of tax returns processed has plummeted 33% as of January 27 when compared with year ago numbers. TurboTax parent company Intuit believes that people have simply procrastinated rather than switched to another tax filing service.
Microsoft has extended the use of its cloud service technology patents to users of Microsoft Azure. Azure is an enterprise-grade cloud computing platform where clients can store data and build and deploy apps. Microsoft holds over 10,000 patents covering mobile apps and cloud technology.
Accenture introduced a new system that will make blockchain applications more secure. Blockchain is a distributed database that records transactions in a verifiable and permanent manner. Accenture has developed a platform to store digital keys securely in hardware security modules.
In the broad market, advancing issues barely edged out decliners by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE while decliners outpaced advancers by 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index added a point to 2,294. Bitcoin gained $5 to $1,047.
