Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, April 24, 2018. U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday, giving up earlier gains, as investors were digesting a string of corporate earnings reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average erased 424.56 points, or 1.74 percent, to 24,024.13. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)
U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday, giving up earlier gains, as investors were digesting a string of corporate earnings reports as well as the rising Treasury yield.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average erased 424.56 points, or 1.74 percent, to 24,024.13. The S&P 500 lost 35.73 points, or 1.34 percent, to 2,634.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 121.25 points, or 1.70 percent, to 7,007.35.
Losses in U.S. multinationals Caterpillar and 3M dragged major indexes lower around midday session, with the Dow once plunging over 550 points on Tuesday.
Caterpillar reported earnings and revenue that beat market expectations. The company's stock, however, slumped 6.2 percent in market closing on Tuesday, after its CFO Bradley Halverson said during a conference call that the company's outlook assumed that the first quarter would be "the high watermark for the year."
Shares of 3M dropped 6.79 percent after the company reported better-than-expected earnings but lowered its full-year profit forecast.
The earnings season is overall off to a good start. More than 83 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported through Tuesday have topped earnings estimates, according to U.S. research firm FactSet.
Expectations for this earnings season are high. The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter are expected to rise 20 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 7.5 percent.
Meanwhile, traders continued to pay a close attention to the rising U.S. Treasury yield. The 10-year Treasury note yield on Tuesday went above 3 percent, a key psychological level, for the first time since 2014.
Investors have been selling Treasury this month - pushing yields higher - amid expectations of rising inflation, which sparked speculation for more Federal Reserve rate-hikes later this year.
In other markets, the U.S. dollar on Tuesday traded mixed against other major rivals in late trading amid rising Treasury yield. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, hit a three-month high of 90.985 in the morning session.
Meanwhile, oil prices settled lower on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled that the United States and France are close to reaching an agreement to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery fell 0.94 U.S. dollar to settle at 67.70 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June delivery lost 0.85 dollar to close at 73.86 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
