U.S. stocks moved up slightly in Tuesday trading, one day after concerns about the upcoming earnings season ended the market’s brief winning streak.
The S&P and Dow were each down around 0.5% Monday, based on concerns over earnings as well as the continued strengthening of the dollar. Today, markets reacted to earnings figures from big banks such as JPMorgan Chase and wells Fargo, as well as retail sales figures that showed an increase of 0.9% —slightly below the expected figure of 1.1%.
While overall earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to be down close to 3 percent for the first quarter, experts have predicted 10% growth for large financial institutions—suggesting Tuesday’s results may not be indicative of the overall picture in the coming weeks. Those numbers, plus an uptick in oil prices, helped the Dow and S&P to slightly higher finishes as Wall Street’s focus turned to earnings.
Here are the final numbers from Tuesday on Wall Street:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 18,036.70 (+59.66)
NASDAQ: 4,977.29 (-10.96)
S&P 500: 2,095.84 (+3.41)
