Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were mixed on Tuesday, as a wave of downbeat earnings and guidance from prominent companies offset energy-related gains spurred by an unexpected rally in oil that pushed crude prices to fresh yearly-highs.
On Tuesday morning, investors digested a slew of quarterly earnings from the previous evening after Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) and several other top companies released first quarter reports after the bell. Netflix shares fell sharply even after the popular internet streaming service exceeded analysts' expectations with its subscriber growth and earnings last quarter. Investors focused more intently on Netflix's weak subscriber projections for the second quarter, when the company anticipates adding a net of two million international customers for the period.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 49.44 or 0.27% to 18,053.60, while the S&P 500 Composite index ticked up 6.46 or 0.31% to 2,100.80, as both closed higher for the fifth time in six sessions. On the S&P 500, eight of 10 sectors closed in the green as stocks in the Basic Materials and Energy sectors led. Stocks in the Technology and Consumer Services industries lagged, each falling more than 0.25% on the session. The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, fell 19.69 or 0.40% to 4,940.33, as Netflix, Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) and Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) weighed heavily. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 remain near 2016-yearly highs.
The top performer on the Dow was Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which gained 3.63 or 2.28% to 162.65. Earlier on Tuesday, Goldman reported first quarter earnings of 2.68 per share, far above analysts' forecasts of 2.45. Still, further gains were limited by a 40% decline in revenues, amid headwinds across multiple divisions of the Wall Street bank's operations. As a result, Goldman's sales fell to $6.34 billion for the quarter, down from $10.62 billion over the same period a year earlier. The worst performer was IBM , which slumped 8.53 or 5.59% to 144.00, after the technology giant reported unexpected declines in its gross margin over the first quarter. Shares in IBM suffered their largest one-day sell-off in 18 months on Tuesday.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Vodafone Group (LON:VOD) PLC (NASDAQ:VOD), which added 0.92 or 2.80% to 33.82. The worst performer was Illumina, which tumbled 41.25 or 23.16% to 136.88. On Monday evening, the gene sequencing equipment manufacturer announced preliminary quarterly results below analysts' forecasts, due primarily to declining sales among European sequencing segments. The top performer on the S&P 500 was Transocean, which gained 0.93 or 9.54% to 10.68. Despite the gains, shares in the offshore driller are still down by more than 50% over the last year. Netflix finished as the worst performer on the S&P 500, just below Viacom, which plunged 3.23 or 8.31% to 35.64. It came on the eve of an expiration of a major carrier agreement with DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH). Viacom shares fell considerably on Tuesday, as the two companies tussled with no resolution in sight.
"We are extremely disappointed that Dish has not engaged in a serious way to reach an agreement," Viacom said in a statement. "This is par for the course for Dish which has deliberately derailed 10 renewal negotiations since last year." Industry observers are keeping a close eye on the negotiations, as the debate on cord-cutting intensifies while customers increasingly flock for Internet TV.
"Viacom is asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in increases, despite the changing landscape that induces drastically reduced viewership of Viacom channels and wide availability of their content across multiple platforms, frustrating consumers who don't want to pay twice for the same content," The Dish Network said in a statement.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 2,130-940 margin.