U.S. stocks closed lower Wednesday after a late-afternoon slide erased modest gains made earlier in the day.
The decline added to the market’s losses from the day before and came as crude oil prices fell and investors focused primarily on the latest wave of companies reporting quarterly financial results.
Yahoo slumped 5 percent to $31.12 after reporting a sharp drop in a closely watched measure of revenue, while Chipotle Mexican Grill tumbled 5.7 percent to $665.67 after the restaurant chain’s results fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.
Not all the earnings news was bad. Investors bid up shares in General Motors, which climbed 5.8 percent to $35.42, and Biogen, which rose 4 percent to $276.34.
Only about a quarter of the companies slated to report their results have done so.
“As we get a fuller picture of how (third-quarter) earnings are going to wind up shaking out, that will give people more of a comfort level in terms of the directional cues in the market,” said Mike Ryan, chief investment strategist at UBS Wealth Management Americas.
A roaring start to Ferrari’s market debut and news about a couple of corporate deals also failed to keep the market from slipping into the red.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 48.50 points, or 0.28 percent, to 17,168.61. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 11.83 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,018.94. The Nasdaq composite slid 40.85 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,840.12.
Investors have been reviewing company earnings this week as they hunt for insight into how the global economy is doing.
All told, 104 companies in the S&P 500 index have reported third-quarter earnings so far. Some 69 percent of those have reported results that beat Wall Street’s expectations. That’s better than the historic average of 66 percent.
Nine of the 10 sectors in the S&P 500 moved lower. Energy stocks fell the most, about 1 percent. The sector is down 15.5 percent this year. Industrial stocks bucked the trend notching a tiny gain.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.09 to close at $45.20 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 86 cents to $47.85 a barrel in London.
