NEW YORK — After two weeks of strong earnings pumped up stocks, weak results from Pfizer and others deflated a broad earnings rally, at least for Tuesday.
The world’s largest drugmaker posted worse-than-expected quarterly results Tuesday, slowing a parade of positive corporate reports. Clorox, Molson Coors and Beazer Homes also slipped after announcing weaker earnings.
That sent broad indexes such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 lower. The Russell 2000, an index of small companies, lost 1.3 percent.
The S&P 500 fell 4.60 points, 0.3 percent, to 1,356.62. The Nasdaq composite fell 22.46, 0.8 percent, to 2,841.62. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.15 percent, closing at 12,807.51.
Randy Bateman, chief investment officer and president of Huntington Asset Advisors, said some kind of weakness was natural following a mostly positive earnings season. About 65 percent of companies in the S&P 500 have reported their results, and earnings are up about 21 percent from the same period last year, according to FactSet.
“We’ve had such a strong, hard run for the entirety of the year in the face of an awful lot of adversity,” Bateman said. “Investors are going to sit back a little bit and say, ‘How much more good news is out there?’ “
Pfizer fared worst in the Dow, losing nearly 3 percent after the company reduced its revenue forecast for 2011.
Clorox fell 3.6 percent and Molson Coors fell nearly 6 percent after each reported lower net income compared with the same period last year. The consumer-goods maker and the beverage company blamed higher costs for raw materials for the decline.
Beazer slipped 5 percent. The homebuilder reported a larger-than-expected loss because orders for new homes fell, reflecting continued weakness in the housing industry.
The losses came after a string of stronger-than-expected earnings reports pushed the broad stock market up 2 percent this quarter. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 2.4 percent last week alone.
“You get a nice move like that, and you’re bound to have a pullback,” said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management.
Investors sold stocks based on their perceived riskiness, he said, with the stable companies in the Dow losing the least and smaller, riskier companies in the Russell 2000 declining the most.
