Stocks declined for a second session in a row on Tuesday as better-than-expected corporate quarterly earnings failed to boost market confidence as global pandemic recovery fears swept over Wall Street.
Nonetheless, the first quarter earnings season has started strong, with 90% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far exceeding Street expectations by more than 20% on average, according to CNBC.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.68% or -28.32 points to 4,134.94
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.75% or -256.93 points to 33,820.70
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.92% or -128.50 points to 13,786.27
For Stocks, airline--American (NASDAQ: AAL), Delta (NYSE: DAL) and United (NASDAQ: UAL)--and cruise--Carnival (NYSE: CCL), Norwegian (NYSE: NCLH), and Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL)--shares led losses as market participants became concerned about global coronavirus recovery. United Airlines highlighted in its fifth consecutive quarterly loss that business and international travel recovery is still a long way away. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) shares gained following a better-than-expected first quarter and the pharmaceutical giant reporting $100 million in COVID vaccine sales in the United States.
For Sector Performance, sectors ended mostly lower alongside the broader market with Industrials (NYSE: XLI), Consumer Discretionary (NYSE: XLY), Financials (NYSE: XLF) and Energy (NYSE: XLE) leading losses. Only Utilities (NYSE: XLU), Real Estate (NYSE: XLRE), Consumer Staples (NYSE: XLP) and Health Care (NYSE: XLV) were the only sectors to close in the green.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) rose in later trade on Tuesday as U.S. interest rates remained high. After dipping to its lowest level in nearly seven weeks, the dollar index gained 0.2% against six other global currencies to 91.204 in afternoon trading. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices gained on Tuesday on the dollar's weakness and rising U.S. Treasury yields. Spot gold climbed 0.4% higher at $1,775.46 per ounce in afternoon trading, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.3% higher at $1,775.60 per ounce. Crude oil futures slipped on Tuesday as investors become concerned that India may reimpose pandemic restrictions as COVID infection and death rates continue to rise in the country. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) dropped 0.72% to $66.57 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) fell 1.48% lower at $62.44 each.
For Wednesday, traders will respond to the results of Netflix's (NASDAQ: NFLX) quarterly earnings, as well as fresh reports from Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Chipotle (NYSE: CMG).