Mixed earnings news leaves stocks mostly lower

Strong dollar, drop in price of crude oil keep investors guessing.

Tepid corporate results and another drop in the price of crude oil pulled stocks mostly lower on Tuesday.

Major indexes started the day slightly higher, turned lower around noon, then languished until the closing bell. A mixed batch of first-quarter earnings reports offered traders little direction.

DuPont said the rising dollar weighed on its results in the first quarter as earnings and sales shrunk. The chemical giant also lowered its forecast for fullyear profits, and its stock fell $2.15, or 3 percent, to $70.69.

“It seems the market is in a holding pattern as investors are waiting to see just how much the dollar impacts corporate earnings,” said Russell Price, Ameriprise Financial’s senior economist. “So far, things are a bit better than expected, but we’ll see how it plays out.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3.11 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 2,097.29. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 85.34 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,949.59 while the Nasdaq composite gained 19.50 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,014.10.

A strong dollar reflects the relative strength of the U.S. economy, but for big companies with global customers, a rising dollar can mean trouble. It hits Corporate America in two ways, making goods produced in the U.S. more expensive to foreign customers and diminishing the value of sales collected in foreign currencies when U.S. corporations bring the money home.

The rising dollar is a key reason analysts forecast that firstquarter corporate earnings will fall 2.2 percent, according to S&P Capital IQ. They expect sales to sink 1.8 percent. Over the past week, Johnson & Johnson, American Express and General Electric blamed the dollar for hurting their results.

Among a slew of other companies reporting results Tuesday, Harley-Davidson turned in quarterly sales that fell short of analysts’ targets. The maker of motorcycles also cut its full-year forecast for shipments, blaming price cuts by rivals as well as the strong dollar. The company’s stock fell $6.05, or 10 percent, to $55.72.

Major markets in Europe continued their recent climb. Germany’s DAX finished with a gain of 0.4 percent, while France’s CAC-40 inched up 0.1 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.2 percent.