U.S. stocks traded mixed on Tuesday as investors digested a batch of corporate earnings reports and key economic data.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 61.93 points, or 0.25 percent, to 24,590.15. The S&P 500 erased 4.84 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,639.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 50.74 points, or 0.72 percent, to 7,034.95.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street's estimates. It reported earnings per share of 0.64 U.S. dollars and revenue of 13.97 billion dollars.
For the full year of 2018, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of 3 dollars and revenue of 53.6 billion dollars.
For 2019, Pfizer projected adjusted earnings per share to range between 2.82 dollars to 2.92 dollars and revenue to range between 52 billion dollars to 54 billion dollars, both lower than analysts' estimates.
3M, Allergan, Verizon and Biogen were among the companies that posted better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday.
On the data front, the U.S. consumer confidence index hit 120.2 in January, down from 126.6 in December, according to the Conference Board's monthly survey.
Lynn Franco, senior director of Economic Indicators at the Conference Board, said while economic conditions remained favorable, expectations declined sharply as financial market volatility and the government shutdown appeared to have had an impact on consumers.
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