U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Lower On Troubling Earnings News

After showing a lack of direction over the two previous sessions, stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. The major averages have all moved to the downside after ending Monday’s lackluster session narrowly mixed.

In recent trading, the major averages have fallen to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 97.56 points or 0.3 percent at 33,777.84, the Nasdaq is down 110.57 points or 0.9 percent at 11,926.63 and the S&P 500 is down 31.06 points or 0.8 percent at 4,105.98.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflects a negative reaction to quarterly results from First Republic (FRC), with the regional bank plunging by 26.7 percent.

The steep drop by First Republic comes after the company reported a loss of more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, renewing concerns about turmoil in the banking sector.

Shares of UPS Inc. (UPS) have also moved sharply lower after the delivery giant reported weaker than expected first quarter results and forecast full-year revenue at the lower end of its prior forecast.

Meanwhile, other big-name companies like General Motors (GM), PepsiCo (PEP), McDonald’s (MCD) and 3M (MMM) reported better than expected quarterly earnings but are turning in a mixed performance.

Traders continue to look ahead to quarterly results from Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and software giant Microsoft (MSFT) after the close of trading.

On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing consumer confidence has deteriorated by much more than anticipated in the month of April.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slumped to 101.3 in April from a revised 104.0 in March. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 104.0 from the 104.2 originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new home sales unexpectedly spiked to their highest level in a year in March.

Sector News

Oil service stocks have pulled back sharply after rallying in the previous session, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 3.6 percent.

The sell-off by oil service stocks comes amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil, with crude for June delivery tumbling $1.63 to $77.13 a barrel.

Concerns about global demand are also contributing to substantial weakness among steel stocks, as reflected by the 3.3 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.

Transportation stocks are also seeing considerable weakness following the disappointing results from UPS, resulting in a 3.0 percent slump by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Oil producer, banking and natural gas stocks have also shown notable moves to the downside, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. While Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend and crept up by 0.1 percent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.3 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.7 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has slid by 0.8 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved sharply higher, extending the advance seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 10.6 basis points at 3.407 percent.

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