Stocks fall ahead of earnings reports

Investors sent stocks slightly lower Monday ahead of a busy week for company earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 80.61 points, or 0.5%, to close at 17,977.04. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 9.63 points, or 0.5%, to 2,092.43. The Nasdaq composite lost 7.73 points, or 0.2%, to 4,988.25.

JetBlue Airways surged after the airline reported a 9% increase in passengers last month compared with the same period a year ago. The company’s stock gained 80 cents, or 4%, to $19.85.

JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson and Wells Fargo are among the big names turning in quarterly results Tuesday. Investors are braced for bad news, a result of the stronger dollar and low oil prices squeezing revenues. Analysts forecast that first-quarter earnings shrank 3% compared with the same quarter last year, according to S&P Capital IQ. If that winds up happening, it would be the first drop in quarterly profits since 2009.

Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, said those numbers shouldn’t raise too many worries.

“Usually when earnings go down it means the economy is going in the tank, because most earnings come from domestic sales,” he said. “This time is different. The big hit to earnings is from energy companies just getting hammered by oil prices. And a big chunk of the rest is from the stronger dollar.”

Prices for U.S. government bonds crept up, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 1.93%.

Stock markets in Europe were mixed. Germany’s DAX sank 0.3%, while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.4%.

Markets in China jumped on expectations that Beijing will launch additional support for the world’s secondlargest economy. Imports fell 12% in March from a year earlier and exports declined 15%. That added to signs that China’s economic growth in the first three months of the year might decline further from 7% the previous quarter.