Stocks close slightly lower as Wall Street gears up for major tech earnings: Live updates

The S&P 500 hovered near the flatline Tuesday as traders readied for earnings reports from major technology behemoths.

The broad index dipped 0.16% to close at 5,555.74 a day after it notched its best performance in more than a month, while the Nasdaq Composite inched down 0.06% to finish at 17,997.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 57.35 points, or 0.14%, to end at 40,358.09.

Wall Street continued assessing the latest second-quarter earnings reports, with Google parent Alphabet and Tesla due to report after the bell. Those reports will mark the Street’s first look at how major tech-related names fared over the past three months.

“This is reflective of investors’ holding pattern as they digest the combination of earnings, economic data and U.S. political developments,” said Greg Bassuk, CEO at AXS Investments. These factors should continue to “drive investor activity” over the next few weeks, he added.

UPS posted second-quarter results that missed on the top and bottom lines, sending the stock down 12% for its worst day on record. Elsewhere, General Motors easily beat analysts’ expectations but shares fell 6.4% as the automobile company delayed plans for its electric and autonomous vehicles.

Despite those disappointments, earnings season is off to a strong start. About 20% of S&P 500 companies have posted second-quarter results, with 80% of those names beating expectations, FactSet data shows.

Those moves follow a winning day on Wall Street as technology stocks rebounded from last week’s sell-off. The small cap-focused Russell 2000 also rose on Monday, adding to last week’s gain, which was seen as a sign of traders moving money to this cohort from Big Tech names that have experienced monster gains this year.

The shift to small caps also comes as investors grow increasingly excited that the Federal Reserve will soon begin lowering interest rates, a move seen as particularly helpful for smaller and more cyclically oriented companies.