US close: Dow Jones ends session more than 800 points lower

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Tuesday as investors digested quarterly earnings from a number of big-name firms and a series of data points.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.38% at 33,240.18, while the S&P 500 was 2.81% softer at 4,175.20 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 3.95% weaker at 12,490.74.

The Dow closed 809.28 points lower on Tuesday, easily reversing gains recorded in the previous session.

Fears regarding the global economy weighed on sentiment throughout the session, as did a fresh surge in Covid-19 cases in China, high inflation, and the potential threat of nuclear war as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In the corporate space, Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal has told employees that the social media giant faces an uncertain future after it agreed to be acquired by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a deal worth $44.0bn. He was initially offered a seat on the board but instead made a bid for the entire company, which Twitter's board accepted on Monday. The cash offer of $54.20 per share is a 38% premium to the closing price on 1 April, the last trading day before Musk acquired his 9% stake.

In terms of earnings, General Electric posted a first-quarter earnings and revenue beat ahead of the opening bell but warned FY earnings would be towards the lower end of previous guidance, while PepsiCo also reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped expectations as consumers paid more for Doritos, Quaker oatmeal and Gatorade products.

UPS also beat earnings estimates with EPS of $3.05 on $24.4bn in sales, while 3M posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on a net income of $1.29bn, down from $1.62bn in the year-earlier period, and Raytheon Technologies revealed it was on track for a fourth-straight loss, after the aerospace and defence company provided mixed guidance as it missed on Q1 revenues despite beating on profits

After the bell, Alphabet reported weak earnings and revenue on a big miss at YouTube, while Microsoft posted earnings that beat across the board.

On the macro front, new orders for manufactured durable goods increased 0.8% month-on-month across the US in March, according to the Census Bureau, bouncing back from a downwardly revised 1.7% drop in February but below market expectations of a 1% gain. Excluding transportation, new orders rose 1.1%, ahead of a 0.5% drop in February, and excluding defence, new orders advanced 1.2%, a marked improvement on the prior month's 2.1% fall.

Elsewhere, the US housing index increased to 381.40 points in February, up from 373.70 points in January, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Still on housing data, new home sales in the US fell 2% month-on-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 772,000 in February, according to the Census Bureau, following a revised 8.4% drop in the previous month and below market expectations for a print of 810,000.

Finally, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment unexpectedly jumped to 65.7 in April, up from an eleven-year low of 59.4 in March, according to preliminary estimates. Figures also beat market forecasts of 59, with the expectations index surging by 18% to 64.1.

Dow Jones - Risers

Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $156.53 -0.61%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $184.68 -0.72%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $249.87 -0.91%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $172.66 -1.02%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $67.37 -1.03%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $155.30 -1.04%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $84.48 -1.12%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $44.87 -1.15%