Stocks end winning streak
NEW YORK — Stocks ended a five-day winning streak on Tuesday as investors cautiously assessed the first big round of quarterly corporate earnings reports.
Technology companies fared the worst, weighed down by a 1.3% drop by Microsoft and a 1.9% slide from Intel.
Johnson & Johnson led health care stocks lower with a drop of 1.6%. The health care and pharmaceutical company’s full-year profit forecast remained mostly below analysts’ projections.
Financial stocks gave up early gains and turned mostly lower, although Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase rose. Energy companies also fell broadly.
Major indexes were mixed for much of the morning and turned lower at midday after President Trump said: “We have a long way to go on tariffs with China.”
The S&P 500 fell 10.26 points, or 0.3%, to 3,004.04. That marks the first decline in the benchmark index after five days of gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.53 points, or 0.1% to 27,335.63. The Nasdaq composite fell 35.39 points, or 0.4%. to 8,222.80.
Small-company stocks rose slightly. The Russell 2000 index rose 0.17 point to 1,562.
A surprisingly good retail sales report for June had little impact on consumer product makers, though it did help push bond prices lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.12% from 2.09% late Monday.
Industrial companies fared the best. JB Hunt Transport Services jumped 5.6% after the company beat Wall Street’s second quarter profit forecasts. The trucking and logistics company also told investors that it expects volume will pick up in the second half of the year. Several other trucking and cargo-related companies also made gains. Ryder System rose 3.7%, Old Dominion rose 3.2% and Union Pacific rose 1.4%.
The latest round of corporate financial reports ramps up this week and investors have low expectations. Wall Street is forecasting a 2.6% drop in profit for S&P 500 companies. It is set to be the first back-to-back quarterly decline in three years.