The S&P 500 fell to start August as investors navigated a flood of corporate earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials fought their way 26.6 points higher to commence trading Tuesday at 35,586.13
The S&P 500 Index slumped 12.31 points to 4,576.65.
The NASDAQ index shed 55.03 points to 14,291.
Pharmaceutical giant Merck reported a smaller-than-expected loss and revenue that exceeded expectations thanks to strong Keytruda sales. Merck shares rose 1.6%. Caterpillar also reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, boosting shares 7%.
Pfizer added 1.7% even after posting mixed results due to plummeting COVID product sales, while Uber lost nearly 5% on mixed earnings.
This week marks the busiest stretch of second-quarter earnings with more than 160 S&P 500 constituents slated to report results. More than half of the companies in the broad market index have already reported, with 82% topping earnings expectations, according to FactSet.
This has fueled some hopes that the economy will be able to avoid a recession as inflation shows signs of cooling.
Despite the performance so far, analysts are bracing for a 7.1% earnings decline from a year
Prices for the 10-year Treasury tumbled, raising yields to 4.03% from Monday's 3.96%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank 78 cents to $81.02 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices darkened $24.80 to $1,984.40 U.S. an ounce.