Investing.com – U.S. equities closed lower on Tuesday, after weaker than expected earnings from Goldman Sachs and continued geopolitical jitters weighed on sentiment.
The flight to safety trade continued on Wall Street, as investors mulled over geopolitical tensions in North Korea, Syria and Russia while UK Prime Minister Theresa May surprised the markets, after she announced her decision to call an early election.
Although UK opinion polls suggested PM Theresa May would significantly increase her parliamentary majority of 17 during the election, the decision to call a snap election, after she said that the next general election would be held as scheduled in 2020, represents an element of risk.
Meanwhile corporate earnings failed to offset the flight to safety trade, as shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) sank more than 5%, after the investment bank reported first-quarter earnings that missed on the top and bottom lines.
Goldman Sachs posted earnings-per-share (EPS) of $5.15 on $8.026 billion of revenue against analysts’ expectations of EPS of $5.31 on $8.446 billion of revenue. This was the first time in 15 months that Goldman failed to beat earnings expectations.
On the economic data front, investors mulled over a slowdown in U.S. home building, after the Commerce Department said Tuesday, Housing starts declined 6.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.22 million units.
Elsewhere, the upcoming first round of French Presidential elections added to the risk-off sentiment, as left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Lemenchon’s late surge in polls fuelled uncertainty as to the outcome of the first round of French Presidential elections.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.55% lower at 20,523. The S&P 500 dipped 0.29% and the Nasdaq Composite traded 0.12% lower at 5849.
S&P 500 ‘movers and shakers’
The top S&P 500 gainers included; AutoNation Inc (NYSE:AN) up 3%, and International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) up 1.9%, while Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) added 1.8%.
Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE:CAH) down 11.5%, WW Grainger Inc (NYSE:GWW) down 11.4% and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) down 4.7%, were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.