US open: Major indices trade lower as earnings remain in focus

dl wall street st new york city nyc nyse stock exchange ny dow jones nasdaq sp finance us usa united states of america — Wall StreetSharecast photo / Josh White

Major indices were in the red early on Tuesday as traders digested a number of earnings reports.

As of 1545 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.30% at 33,772.80, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.75% to 4,105.90 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.92% weaker at 11,962.73.

The Dow opened 102.60 points lower on Tuesday, easily reversing modest gains recorded in the previous session.

Earnings remained in focus yet again on Tuesday, with UPS trading lower after its quarterly numbers fell short of expectations, while PepsiCo raised its full-year earnings forecast after posting quarterly figures that beat expectations.

General Motors also reported strong Q1 revenue and profits, leading it to hike its annual guidance, and McDonald's delivered earnings that came in ahead of estimates by $0.30 amid strong diner demand and price hikes.

Still to come, Amazon and Microsoft will report earnings after the close.

On the macro front, building permits tumbled 8.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.41m in March, taking a huge bite out of February's 15.8% jump, according to a preliminary estimate from the Census Bureau. The reading missed market expectations of 1.45m and remained close to December's 31-month low of 1.33m.

Elsewhere, US house price growth continued to ebb, although at a more moderate pace, according to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller, which said its national home price index rose at an annual pace of 2.0% in February. That was down from the 3.7% clip observed during the previous month.

On another note, manufacturing sector activity in states bordering the mid-southeastern US Atlantic coast deteriorated a bit more in April, with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's factory sector index slipping from a reading of -5 for March to -10 in April. Two of its largest components, the subindices for shipments and new orders, fell from 2 to -7 and from -11 to -20, respectively, while the gauge for employment improved from -5 to 0.

Moving on, sales of new single-family houses unexpectedly jumped 9.3% month-on-month in March to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 683,000, according to the Census Bureau, both the highest number in a year and beating forecasts of 630,000.

Finally, the Conference Board's US consumer confidence showed the headline figure had declined from 104 in March to 101.3 in April, compared to consensus estimates for a flat month-on-month reading.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $494.31 1.10%
3M Co. (MMM) $106.16 1.05%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $157.39 0.67%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $164.49 0.49%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $245.65 0.49%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $179.94 0.45%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $116.33 0.34%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $125.71 0.25%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $301.85 0.07%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $152.76 0.00%