Stocks end mixed on corporate earnings
U.S. stocks ended mixed Tuesday as investors digested a mixed batch of earnings reports and as the Federal Reserve kicked off a two-day meeting on interest rates.
Climbing were the Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500, up 0.2% and a trace, respectively. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.1%.
Stocks, which have recently rallied to record highs, have paused slightly this week as investors look to corporate earnings for signs of future growth.
Investors were also looking ahead to the Fed meeting for any clues to whether the central bank will resume raising interest rates. Economists were not expecting any changes to rates at the conclusion of the meeting Wednesday but expected the central bank to boost its economic outlook after recent encouraging signs in the labor market and the economy.
Several Dow components reported earnings before the opening bell Tuesday:
• McDonald's (MCD) led the Dow decliners after the fast-food giant reported earnings that missed Wall Street estimates and disappointing sales. Shares tumbled 4.5%.
• Shares of Verizon (VZ) fell 1.9% after the telecommunications company said a worker strike in the spring hurt its second-quarter results.
• United Technologies (UTX) raised its outook for the year and reported earnings and revenue that beat estimates. Shares were up 3.1%.
• Dupont (DD) shares rose 0.4% after cost-cutting helped boost profits that beat expectations for the chemical company.
Overseas, European markets were higher with Britain's FTSE 100 index up 0.2% and Germany's DAX index gaining 0.5%.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% to 16,383.04 amid tension over a brutal knife attack in Sagamihara, Japan, where 19 people were killed and 20 injured.
"While not directly an input to equity markets, the attack was disruptive in a country used to harmony," Bepoke Investment Group analysts said Tuesday morning in a research note.
Elsewhere in Asia, stocks jumped. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.6%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.1%.
Follow Paste BN reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.