Stock prices fall in early trading

Stock prices are down in early trading. The Dow Jones industrials are off 20.59 to 12,562.00 in the opening minutes. The Nasdaq Composite has fallen 5.87 to 2,491.91 and the Standard & Poor's 500 is off 9.94 to 1,430.96.

Market indexes were mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow industrials rising 26 points and the S&P 500 adding 1.1 points, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5 points. A continued slide in crude oil prices hurt energy producers and a downgrade of Cisco Systems weighed on the technology sector, while IBM and DuPont advanced.

Crude continued to be under pressure on Wednesday, with the front-month contract down 22 cents at $50.99 a barrel. Metals contracts also slipped, with gold futures down $2.90 at $623 an ounce.

There's a host of economic data due Wednesday, including producer prices for December, November capital flows, December industrial production and December capacity utilization. There are three Fed speakers: Frederic Mishkin, Janet Yellen and Bill Poole.

The Fed's beige book also is due for release.

The dollar edged lower on the yen, a day before a Bank of Japan rate decision, while it was steady against the euro.

Of companies in focus, Intel Corp. lost 4.4 percent in Frankfurt after reporting a 39 percent profit fall in the fourth quarter and forecasting basically flat gross margins next year.

Shares of computer makers Dell and Hewlett-Packard edged lower in overseas trade.

Server provider Rackable Systems is due for steep losses after forecasting worse-than-forecast adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter.

The news wasn't all bad in the chip sector, however. Holland's ASML Holding, which makes machines for chip makers - including Intel - reported a stronger-than-forecast fourth-quarter profit and sounded an optimistic tone for 2007.

Banks J.P. Morgan Chase and Mellon Financial topped analyst estimates for fourth quarter profit.

Lennar, the home builder, said 2007 deliveries may fall more than 20 percent, though it expects to meet or exceed 2006 earnings per share.

Apple Inc. reports its quarterly results after the market close.

Procter & Gamble rose 1 percent in Frankfurt after the household products maker was upgraded to buy at Goldman Sachs.

Elsewhere, Sony Ericsson, the mobile phone making venture from Sony and Ericsson, reported a stronger-than-forecast profit after taking market share from Motorola and Samsung.

SABMiller, the beer producer that's about a third owned by Altria Group, reported better-than-expected 10 percent beer volume growth in the last quarter, and said it managed to curb a slowdown in U.S. sales.

Diminished rate hike expectations lifted the Nikkei 225 by 0.3 percent in Tokyo. European stock markets were largely flat.