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Wall Street treads water as earnings wave nears

Published 04/27/2021, 06:56 AM
Updated 04/27/2021, 02:45 PM
© Reuters. The New York Stock Exchange is pictured in New York

© Reuters. The New York Stock Exchange is pictured in New York

By Noel Randewich and Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) - Tepid results from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and 3M weighed on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors focused on an approaching wave of earnings reports from Microsoft, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and other corporate heavyweights.

Electric-car maker Tesla Inc dropped 3% after its quarterly results late on Monday fell short of some investors' expectations, with its revenue beat largely supported by sales of environmental credits and selling bitcoin, rather than vehicle sales.

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet Inc slipped ahead of their quarterly reports after the bell. Shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), slated to report later this week, were mixed.

Shares of 3M Co fell 2.7% after the conglomerate said supply chain disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and the February winter storm were pushing up its costs.

First-quarter overall earnings per share for S&P 500 companies are expected to jump 35% from a year earlier, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended at record levels on Monday, and have mainly been supported by ebbing inflation worries, improving economic data, swift vaccine distribution and unprecedented monetary and fiscal measures.

"We are in that spot where the economy is recovering, there is stimulus money to be spent and people have increased their desire and propensity to consume. For the remainder of the year, you're going to see some fairly optimistic thoughts," said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.

Investors will monitor the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting for cues on the central bank's thinking on inflation, bond buying and risks to the financial system posed by soaring asset prices. The Fed is not expected to change its policy guidance at the end of the meeting on Wednesday.

In the latest upbeat economic data, U.S. consumer confidence jumped to a 14-month high in April as more services businesses reopened on increased vaccinations and additional fiscal stimulus.

In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.01% at 33,979.71 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.02% to 4,186.61.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped -0.31% to 14,094.32.

Also expected to report after the bell on Tuesday were companies including Visa (NYSE:V), Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN), Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX).

United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS) jumped 11% after it topped estimates for quarterly revenue.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 2.2% after it disappointed investors who were expecting the industrial conglomerate to upgrade its 2021 outlook.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.06-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.39-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

© Reuters. Traders exit the 11 Wall St. door of the NYSE in New York

The S&P 500 posted 45 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 113 new highs and 17 new lows.

Latest comments

Another floor under the losses of the biggest investment joke in the world.
All that matters is how much debt the Fed buys, and how much debt the treasury sells. It's a Mach 3 rocket headed for the side of a mountain.
Q1 was actually great for Tesla. But let's pretend that regulatory credits and bitcoin are liabilities and not profit and you can say it was bad.
hello
They actually try to spin that year over year earnings grew 34.3% from last year Q2. Which I would assume were zero. Pathetic
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