Stocks ease below recent records as earnings reports start to roll in

Stocks gave up early gains and closed broadly lower Tuesday as investors weighed the latest quarterly earnings reports from big US companies and new data pointing to rising inflation.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, with most of the companies in the benchmark index losing ground. Banks, industrial stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending accounted for a big share of the decline. Technology stocks bucked the trend, helping counter some of the broader slide. Small company stocks took some of the heaviest losses.

The pullback brought the major stock indexes slightly below the record highs they set a day earlier. Treasury yields rose.

Investors sized up mixed quarterly earnings reports from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, PepsiCo and other big companies. They also got another snapshot of how inflation continues to show up in the economy as the a rapid spike in consumer demand and supply constraints translate into higher prices for consumer goods.

The latest report from the Labor Department showed yet another increase in consumer prices in June that surprised economists.

“You had the element of just incredible earnings reported for the most recent quarter, but in some of the commentary that came out there were some questions about, ‘OK, what about cost pressures going forward?” said Alan McKnight, chief investment officer at Regions Asset Management. “Then you pair that with the inflation report today where we see another high print.”

The S&P 500 fell 15.42 points to 4,369.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 107.39 points, or 0.3%, to 34,888.79. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 55.59 points, or 0.4%, to 14,677.65, while the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies lost 42.96 points, or 1.9%, to 2,238.86.