STORY: U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday, with Dow virtually flat, the S&P 500 dipping fractionally, while the Nasdaq lost more than half a percent.Investors eagerly awaited earnings results after the closing bell from Alphabet and Tesla, the first of the Magnificent Seven megacaps to report.Shares of Alphabet, down more than 1% at the close, dipped further in extended trading despite the Google parent topping Wall Street estimates for cloud revenue growth thanks to the AI boom.And shares of Tesla, which also closed lower, tumbled another 2.5% in extended trading after Elon Musk's EV maker reported negative free cash flow for the first time in more than two years due to accelerated spending on AI infrastructure, battery capacity, robotaxis and next-generation manufacturing.Bob Lang, founder and chief options analyst of Explosive Options, said that strong earnings are needed to keep the market moving higher.“The one thing that has been pretty constant here for the past 4 or 5 months ...