Investing.com – Wall Street showed mixed trade on Tuesday as stocks digested a slew of earnings with Goldman Sachs leading the Dow lower and the Nasdaq holding ground after positive news from Netflix, while investors showed concern over political developments surrounding healthcare.
At 11:45AM ET (15:45GMT), the Dow Jones fell 85 points, or 0.39%, the S&P 500 slipped 2 points, or 0.11%, while the Nasdaq Composite broke the trend, rising 10 points, or 0.15%.
Shares in Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) led decliners on the blue chip index, falling around 2%, after the broker reported a 40% drop in bond trading revenue.
Fellow Dow component UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) also traded lower despite the fact that the largest U.S. health insurer posted better-than-expected profit that led the firm to increase full-year guidance.
Trading with gains on the index, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) rose 0.7% after the blue chip healthcare products firm said earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.83 in the second quarter, beating expectations for $1.80, and the company raised its 2017 profit guidance.
IBM (NYSE:IBM) will release its own numbers after the market close Tuesday.
Outside the Dow, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) soared 13%, supporting sentiment in tech stocks, after reporting a jump in subscriber growth that beat expectations.
In a large move to the downside, Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) saw shares sink 9% as the motorcycle maker forecast a decline in shipments.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Comerica (NYSE:CMA) were both under pressure despite the banks beating consensus in their own reports.
On the political front, a second attempt by Republicans to replace Obamacare collapsed, delivering a major policy blow to the Trump administration.
Republican Senators Jerry Moran and Mike Lee announced their opposition to a revised Republican healthcare bill late on Monday.
The setback triggered a selloff in the dollar, with the greenback falling to 11-month lows against major rivals.
Also on the Hill, Republicans in the House of Representatives took a first step toward tax reform, with the release of a fiscal 2018 budget plan that would allow a tax reform package to pass Congress without support from Democrats.
On a light day for economic data, import prices dropped as expected but export prices unexpectedly fell.
Meanwhile, oil prices edged higher on Tuesday, bouncing back after yesterday’s decline of more than 1% as market players continued to weigh strong demand against the global supply glut.
Hopes that Libya, exempt from the production cut agreement, may join the accord to reduce output supported prices on Tuesday.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.61% to $46.30 by 11:46AM ET (15:46GMT), while Brent oil traded up 0.64% to $48.73.