US open: Stocks mixed as traders digest earnings

dl wall street wall st new york city new york stock exchange nyse dow jones nasdaq street sign nyc united states usa america pb — Sharecast / Alessandro D Andrea via Pixabay

Wall Street trading got off to a mixed start on Tuesday following some stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings reports.

As of 1505 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.34% at 33,871.70, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.10% to 4,155.67 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.23% firmer at 12,185.29.

The Dow opened 115.48 points lower on Tuesday, reversing gains recorded in the previous session.

Earnings were in focus early on Tuesday, with banking giant Bank of America trading higher after it beat on both the top and bottom lines with its Q1 earnings amid rising interest rates, while Johnson & Johnson topped expectations with its results, leading the drug and consumer products manufacturer to hike its full-year guidance.

Goldman Sachs delivered weaker-than-expected Q1 revenues, as well as a $470.0m impact from its Marcus loans, while Netflix will report its latest set of quarterly figures after the closing bell.

On the macro front, US homebuilding activity slowed last month, although the underlying details of the latest data set from the Department of Commerce was better. In seasonally adjusted terms, housing starts dropped at a month-on-month pace of 0.8% in March to reach an annual rate of 1.42m - ahead of consensus estimates for a print of 1.40m. Starts for the month before, on the other hand, were revised down from 1.45m to 1.43m.

Still to come, Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman will deliver a speech at 1800 BST.

On the other side of the Pacific, Chinese gross domestic product rose at a 4.5% clip in Q1, the highest rate seen in twelve months and above the 4% increase expected by economists.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $200.04 1.50%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $167.26 1.23%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $297.44 0.69%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $50.60 0.64%
Boeing Co. (BA) $206.27 0.61%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $290.21 0.49%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $32.24 0.30%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $225.85 0.27%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $100.56 0.26%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $171.20 0.16%