U.S. stocks finished mixed on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 rising for a first session in three, and the Dow knocked after results from Verizon Communications, Travelers Companies and Johnson & Johnson.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 44.12 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,414.44. Verizon fell after the telecommunications company reported In a separate move, Verizon on Tuesday said it would purchase s pay-television startup. The ost ground after the insurance provider tallied a rise in fourth-quarter profit, but its margins troubled investors. declined after the healthcare company projected 2014 earnings at the lower end of estimates.
All three had "reactions to what looked like good headline numbers but the proof was in the pudding," Elliot Spar, a market strategist at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., wrote in an afternoon note.
Corporate results so far have been mixed, with some yellow flags raised. "We still want to see it driven by revenue numbers increasing, but we are still seeing cost cutting" and other management moves keeping earnings in line, said Ian Kerrigan, a JP Morgan Private Bank investment specialist in Seattle. "The consumer is going to drive that top-line growth," added Kerrigan, who noted choppy, but positive trends in consumer sentiment amid rising home prices and reduced worries about dysfunction on Capitol Hill.
Major U.S. Indexes
After coming within points of its record high of 1,850.84 hit last week, the rose 5.10 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,843.80, its materials sector boosted by rise after JPMorgan upgraded its shares to overweight, and as Dow Chemical jumped on news Dan Loeb's Third Point had taken a $1.3 billion stake in the company.
Delta Airlines advanced to all-time highs after t that beat expectations.
After hitting a more-than 13-year high, the Nasda advanced 28.18 points, up 0.7 percent, or 4,225.76.
The CBOE Volatility Index, a measure of investor uncertainty, rose 2.5 percent to 12.75.
The 10-year edged higher to 2.831 percent, and the firmed against other global currencies.
