U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday as investors pondered over a string of earnings reports amid economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 112.30 points, or 0.48 percent, to 23,329.46. The S&P 500 lost 11.98 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,557.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 34.54 points, or 0.52 percent, to 6,563.89.

Before Wednesday's opening bell, the Coca-Cola Company announced third-quarter 2017 net income of 1.45 billion U.S. dollars, or 33 cents per share, up from 1.05 billion dollars, or 24 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.

Shares of the beverage company fell 0.28 percent to 46.05 dollars apiece Wednesday although the firm's earnings beat forecasts.

Shares of the Boeing Company dropped 2.85 percent to 258.42 dollars apiece Wednesday though the maker of jetliners posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the third quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 4.7 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 4.5 percent.

On the economic front, U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in September increased 5.1 billion dollars, or 2.2 percent, to 238.7 billion dollars, well above market consensus of a 1.0-percent gain, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

"Durable orders rose 2.2 percent in September, a better-than-expected result anchored by strength ex-transportation and in core capital goods. Business investment is recovering after year-on-year declines through much of last year," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

In a separate report, the department announced that U.S. sales of new single-family houses in September 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000, beating market estimates.

Analysts said that investors were looking for excuses to lock in gains after recent sharp increases.