US close: Markets finish lower amid raft of corporate earnings
Wall Street's main stock market gauges closed in the red on Tuesday, after a session which started downbeat following a poor set of quarterly results from technology giant Alphabet overnight, while traders also kept a wary eye on the start of a two-day meeting of rate-setters at America's Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.07% at 27,071.42, the S&P 500 was off 0.08% at 3,036.89, and the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.78% to 8,047.51.
Those index losses came even as a raft of other corporate updates beat analyst forecasts, and positive news emerged on the US-China trade front.
According to the South China Morning Post, US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are set to meet on 17 November on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Chile, where they are expected to sign an interim trade deal "if all went smoothly".
Separately, CNBC reported that Washington was considering extending tariff exclusions on $34.0bn of Chinese exports that were set to expire in December.
Also in the spotlight on Tuesday, two days of meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee were getting underway to decide whether to cut short-term interest rates again - or not.
Fed funds futures had already fully priced-in a 25 basis point cut in the target range for the Fed funds rate to 1.5-1.75%, but the consensus on the Street was that the Fed would hold fire this time around.
That meant there appeared to be room for disappointment among traders, should some of those analysts be proved correct.
Elsewhere on the economic front, the S&P Case Shiller home price index for August revealed a 2.0% year-on-year rise in home prices in the 20 largest US cities, as expected.
Shortly afterwards, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index for September printed at up by 1.5% on the month for September, beating consensus forecasts for 0.9%, alongside a 0.4% month-on-month drop in the Conference Board's US consumer confidence gauge for October to 125.9, compared to consensus expectations for 127.8.
In corporate news, shares of Google parent Alphabet closed down 2.12%, after the company posted lower-than-expected third quarter earnings per share of $10.12.
It also reported slightly higher-than-anticipated ‘traffic acquisition costs’ for the three months through September, of $7.5bn.
General Motors finished up 4.28% after it reported adjusted quarterly earnings per share ahead of expectations, of $1.72, while stock in drug giant Pfizer was 2.49% higher after it posted better-than-expected earnings and sales, and raised its guidance range for full-year earnings per share to between $2.94 and $3.00.
It was a similar story for Merck & Co, which beat analyst estimates for both top and bottom line growth and raised its full-year outlook for sales, seeing its shares close the day up 3.53%.
Shares in ConocoPhillips were up 2.53% and Kellogg added 2.96%, while Mastercard reversed its earlier fortunes to close 0.59% lower after all three also reported their latest quarterly results.
Meat substitute manufacturer Beyond Meat was in the grinder, plunging 22.22% after the expiry of the lock-up for insiders to sell following its initial public offering.
Dow Jones - Risers
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $85.10 3.53%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $38.21 2.49%
Boeing Co. (BA) $348.93 2.36%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $252.29 2.12%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $141.33 0.91%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $56.27 0.84%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $192.62 0.44%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $47.24 0.15%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $123.60 0.10%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $60.19 0.02%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $243.29 -2.31%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $117.15 -1.74%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $89.28 -1.73%
Visa Inc. (V) $177.63 -1.23%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $234.14 -1.12%
American Express Co. (AXP) $117.42 -0.98%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $142.83 -0.94%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $129.48 -0.80%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $56.34 -0.74%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $142.00 -0.73%
S&P 500 - Risers
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $23.83 13.69%
Xerox Corp. (XRX) $34.42 11.79%
Leggett & Platt Inc. (LEG) $51.57 11.72%
Ingersoll Rand Ltd. (IR) $127.87 4.74%
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $18.96 4.69%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $83.35 4.37%
Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. (MMC) $102.09 4.31%
Everest Re Group Ltd. (RE) $256.24 3.73%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $85.10 3.53%
Becton, Dickinson & Company (BDX) $254.28 3.33%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Ipg Photonics Corp. (IPGP) $124.45 -13.47%
Smith A O Corp. (AOS) $49.23 -4.13%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $20.27 -3.15%
Kroger Co. (KR) $24.63 -2.76%
VF Corp. (VFC) $81.18 -2.72%
Waters Corp. (WAT) $214.29 -2.64%
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) $103.98 -2.63%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $170.28 -2.57%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $92.33 -2.55%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $55.52 -2.51%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $83.35 4.37%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $113.11 3.75%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $19.59 3.27%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $74.27 2.94%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $105.35 2.82%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $256.12 2.28%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $98.64 2.07%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $197.89 1.99%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $208.99 1.94%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $119.01 1.90%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $316.22 -3.51%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $170.28 -2.57%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $92.33 -2.55%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $55.52 -2.51%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $94.41 -2.39%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $243.29 -2.31%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $120.22 -2.26%
Alphabet Inc. Class A (GOOGL) $1,260.66 -2.20%
Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG) $1,262.62 -2.12%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $202.92 -1.87%