Stocks trading on Wall Street ticked lower on Tuesday as an earnings season that is expected to show sluggish corporate growth got under way.
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closed 0.3 percent lower, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.2 percent.
Over the next couple of weeks, reports on fourth-quarter profits are expected to come in above the previous quarter’s lackluster results, but analysts’ current estimates are down sharply from where they were in October. Quarterly earnings are expected to grow by 2.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
German data showed industrial orders fell more than forecast in November because of a sharp drop in demand from abroad, reinforcing concerns that Europe’s largest economy may have contracted in the fourth quarter of 2012.
“I’m surprised futures are holding up, given the relative disappointment that German data showed, but I think all eyes are on the beginning of earnings season,” said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
European shares ended mixed after the German report, with the DAX index in Frankfurt down 0.5 percent and the CAC 40 in Paris up slightly.
Monsanto shares rose 2 percent after the world’s largest seed company raised its earnings outlook for fiscal 2013 and posted strong first-quarter results.
Shares of the restaurant-chain operator Yum Brands fell 4.2 percent. On Monday, the company, which owns KFC, warned that sales in China, its largest market, shrank more than expected in the fourth quarter.
Vodafone shares rose 2 percent in London after its American partner in the joint venture Verizon Wireless said it would be “feasible” to buy out the British group.
Sears Holdings shares were 6.4 percent lower a day after the company said its chief executive would step down for family health reasons.
GameStop shares fell 6.3 percent after it reported sales for the holiday season and cut its guidance.
Wall Street Closes Lower as Earnings Reports Begin
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Wall Street Closes Lower as Earnings Reports Begin
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Wall Street Closes Lower as Earnings Reports Begin
