Stocks end lower as 4- day rally pauses

Uncertainty about economic stimulus still hangs overmarkets.

Banks and technology companies led a broad slide for stocks on Wall Street Tuesday, snapping the market’s four- day winning streak.

The S& P 500 lost 0.6%, giving back some of its gains from a day earlier. Thepullbackinstockscomes as many forces are pushing and pulling on markets simultaneously. Coronavirus counts are rising at a worrying degree inmany countries around the world, and Johnson & Johnson said late Monday it had to temporarily pause a late- stage study of a potential COVID- 19 vaccine “due to an unexplained illness in a study participant.”

Meanwhile, uncertainty about the prospects for more stimulus for the economy fromWashington continues to hang over markets.

Stocks have been mostly pushing higherthismonth. Alreadythemajor stock indexes have recouped their losses from September’s swoon.

Tuesday’s slide came as the third- quarterearningsreportingseason got underway. Investors will be looking for somemeasure of clarity over thenext severalweeks asCEOs line up to report howtheir companies fared during the summer. Wall Street is expecting another sharp drop in profits for the third quarter, nearly 21% for S& P 500 earnings per share from a year earlier.

Butifthatprovescorrect, itwould not be as bad as the nearly 32% plunge for the spring, according to FactSet.

Several companies kicked the season off on Tuesday with better- than- expected reports. JPMorgan Chase, Johnson& Johnson, Citigroup and BlackRock all reported stronger results for the summer than analysts had forecast.