Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday as a surge in media stocks on the back of an uptick in dealmaking in the sector offset both a slump in financials and soft corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 23,557.23. The S&P 500 closed 0.02% lower while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6767.78, up 0.27%.
In what was a busy day corporate earnings calendar, shares of Priceline and TripAdvisor fell double digits after both companies reported earnings that fell short of expectations which weighed on the broader market.
The duo of disappointing earnings reports came amid ongoing bullish sentiment in the media sector after reports suggested that Fox held talks with Disney in recent weeks over a possible sale.
On the economic front, investors cheered labor market data showing the number of job openings in September topped expectations.
The U.S. Labor Department's latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTs) report, a measure of labor demand, showed job openings in September improved to about 6.1 million, beating expectations of 6.091 million.
The subdued day on Wall Street comes as data showed that of the 410 firms on the S&P 500 to have reported third-quarter results so far, 74% of them have beaten estimates.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) up 1.3%, Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) up 1.1% and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) up 1.1%
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), down 2%, Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) down 1.6% and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) down 1.5%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session