After the closing bell, Yahoo out with an earnings miss. Revenues were down more than eight percent.

Chipotle also disappointing investors, with results that fell short of expectations.

Wall Street drifted lower. Health care stocks such as Merck and Pfizer weighed on the Dow. A solid rise in housing starts last month couldn't lift investors' spirits.

IHT Wealth Management's Steve Dudash said: "I'm perfectly fine with a couple of flat days. I know we're in the middle of earnings season, but I don't think anyone's making any big surprise moves. You're not going to see any dramatic moves in the market at least not right now."

A big move by Yum! Brands. The operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants is spinning off its China business. Shares rose.

Harley-Davidson's stock sputtering. Quarterly sales of new motorcycles fell one percent worldwide, pushing down profit.

Another chip deal in the works driving Western Digital shares lower but SanDisk higher. Sources say the hard drive maker is in advanced talks to buy the memory chip maker.

Big Blue's shares hitting a five-year low. A number of analysts cut their price target on the shares a day after IBM posted revenue that fell for the 15th straight quarter.

In Europe, energy stocks dragged shares down from five-week highs.