Investing.com - The Dow closed lower Tuesday, struggling to shake off a slump in Walgreen Boots Alliance and weakness in energy stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.30%. The S&P 500 closed flat, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.25%.
Wall Street was unable to replicate its swashbuckling gains from a day earlier as Walgreens' (NASDAQ:WBA) earnings miss and dour guidance served as a reminder that corporate profit growth may face headwinds in the quarters to come. The shares fell 12.8%.
Analysts are projecting a 3.9% earnings decline for S&P 500 companies in the first quarter, the first year-on-year decline since the second quarter of 2016, according to FactSet.
Falling energy stocks also kept traders on the sidelines, even as oil prices continued to add to gains amid expectations petroleum data due Wednesday will show a draw in U.S. crude supplies.
But airline stocks offered investors some reprieve amid a surge in Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) of about 6.1% after the carrier lifted its earnings guidance for the first quarter amid "healthy" demand.
United Continental (NASDAQ:UAL) was up 2.4%, and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) gained 2%.
The communications services sector, which houses the bulk of the FANG stocks, also supported the broader market thanks to a 3.3% rally in shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) amid an upbeat assessment from Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn).
“We think a more streamlined E-Commerce experience on Instagram could add an incremental $10 (billion) of revenue in 2021, and we see ‘Checkout with Instagram’ as a key step towards unlocking this opportunity,” Deutsche Bank analyst Lloyd Walmsley wrote in a note to investors on Monday.
Chip stocks were also in favor, helping drive gains in broader tech, led higher by gains for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) (up 2.2%), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) (up 1.5%) and Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) (up 1.5%).
In other company news, DowDuPont's spinoff, Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW), made its trading debut on the NYSE today, ending the day more than 5% higher. Dow's emergence from DowDuPont marked the first of a trio of splits into three new companies focusing on commodities, agriculture and specialty products. Dow Chemical, which replaced DowDuPont in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, trades under the ticker DOW.
Corteva, the agriculture unit, is set to separate from the new specialty chemical maker DuPont (NYSE:DWDP) on June 1.
On the economic front, The Commerce Department said core durable goods orders rose 0.1% in February, missing economists' forecasts for a 0.3% rise. The non-defense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, a closely-watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.1% in February.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA), AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) and Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.