Stock indexes end lower, breaking a 5day winning streak

Stocks ended a fiveday winning streak on Tuesday as investors cautiously assessed the first big round of corporate earnings reports.

Technology companies fared the worst, weighed down by a 1.3 percent drop by Microsoft and a 1.9 percent slide from Intel.

Johnson & Johnson led health care stocks lower with a drop of 1.6 percent. The health care and pharmaceutical company’s fullyear 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 Donald Trump said: “We have a long way to go on tariffs with China.”

The S&P 500 fell 10.26 points, or 0.3 percent, 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 percent to 27,335.63. The Nasdaq composite fell 35.39 points, or 0.4 percent. to 8,222.80.

Smallcompany 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 10year Treasury rose to 2.12 percent from 2.09 percent late Monday.

Industrial companies fared the best. JB Hunt Transport Services jumped 5.6 percent 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 cargorelated companies also made gains. Ryder System rose 3.7 percent, Old Dominion rose 3.2 percent and Union Pacific rose 1.4 percent.

The latest round of corporate financial reports ramps up this week and investors have low expectations. Wall Street is forecasting a 2.6 percent drop in profit for S&P 500 companies. It is set to be the first backtoback quarterly decline in three years.

Investors are looking for reasons to remain cautious as companies release results and give forecasts for the remainder of the year, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for Cresset Wealth management.

It’s still early to tally results, but so far the share of companies beating profit forecasts has been high while many are reporting revenue shortfalls.

“That certainly doesn’t bode well for growth in the second half,” he said.