U.S. stocks declined after swinging in a narrow range Tuesday, as investors meditated on a batch of quarterly earnings reports amid downbeat economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 41.62 points, or 0.24 percent, to 17,581.43. The S&P 500 dipped 5.29 points, or 0.26 percent, to 2,065.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 4.56 points, or 0.09 percent, to 5,030.15.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reported revenues of 3.5 billion U.S. dollars for the quarter ended Sept. 30, an increase of 32 percent from a year ago, beating market estimates. Its shares surged 4.05 percent to 79.44 dollars apiece Tuesday.
Pfizer Inc. jumped 2.48 percent to 31.66 dollars apiece after the company posted better-than-expected third-quarter results and raised its full-year outlook. The drug giant reported the third-quarter 2015 diluted earnings of 0.34 dollar per share on revenues of 12.1 billion dollars, compared with earnings of 0.42 dollar per share on revenues of 12. 4 billion dollars a year ago.
Shares of United Parcel Service Inc. dropped 2.90 percent to 103.10 dollars apiece Tuesday after the package delivery company reported quarterly earnings above expectations but revenues short of estimates. Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the third quarter of 2015 are expected to decline 2.6 percent year on year, while revenue growth is forecast to decrease 3.9 percent.
On the economic front, U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in September decreased 2.9 billion dollars, or 1.2 percent, to 231.1 billion dollars, the Department of Commerce announced Tuesday. "September durable orders fell 1.2 percent, a little less than the expected minus 1.5 percent, but August was revised from minus 2.0 percent to minus 3.0 percent. Q4 business investment will be really bad if the slide in orders continues," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 97.6 in October, down from 102.6 in September, missing market consensus of 102.5.
Investors remained cautious as the U.S. Federal Reserve began its two-day meeting Tuesday and will release a new policy statement Wednesday afternoon. Some analysts expect that the Fed will start its first interest rate hike in almost nine years in December if the American economy does not slow significantly.
The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 0.92 percent to end at 15.43 Tuesday.
In other markets, oil prices retreated as traders awaited the U. S. inventory data. The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery moved down 78 cents to settle at 43.2 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery decreased 73 cents to close at 46.81 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The U.S. dollar increased against most major currencies as investors were awaiting the closely-watched Fed statement due out Wednesday. In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1040 dollars from 1.1046 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 120.32 Japanese yen, lower than 121.05 yen of the previous session.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell slightly, with the most active gold contract for December delivery losing 0.4 dollar, or 0.03 percent, to 1,165.80 dollars per ounce.
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