U.S. stocks snapped a three-day winning streak Tuesday as weak company earnings and outlooks weighed on the market.
Major indexes wavered between small gains and losses for most of the day before settling slightly lower in the last 15 minutes of trading. The slide in crude oil prices deepened.
Investors are mostly focused on corporate America the next couple of weeks as the third-quarter earnings season unfolds. This week and next week are particularly heavy, with big companies including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Apple reporting earnings.
Traders are trying to glean whether the global economy is slowing and how U.S. companies are coping with factors like the stronger dollar, which can crimp profits for companies as their goods become pricier overseas.
Tuesday’s tentative trading action suggests investors are not sure what to make of the earnings season so far, said Chris Gaffney, president at EverBank World Markets.
“Everybody’s watching earnings, and it’s been mixed so far,” Gaffney said. “We went into this earnings season with lowered expectations, and even in spite of that we’re seeing some misses.”
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 13.43 points, or 0.08 percent, to 17,217.11. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.89 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,030.77. The Nasdaq composite shed 24.50 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,880.97.
The Dow is down 3.4 percent this year, while the S&P 500 is off 1.4 percent. The Nasdaq is up 3.1 percent for the year.
About 57 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 index report earnings over the next two weeks.
“The major data points for investors are really still going to be with earnings, getting a sense of how confident businesses are, demand and pricing,” said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
Beyond earnings, traders welcomed some deal news Tuesday.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 34 cents to $45.55 a barrel in New York. U.S. crude has fallen six of the last seven trading days. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 10 cents to $48.71 a barrel in London.
