U.S. market indexes were mixed on Tuesday as valuation gains eased slightly. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new high at 18559.01. The Dow gained 25.96 points for an increase of 0.14%. The S&P 500 was lower for the day at 2163.78 for a loss of -3.11 points or -0.14%. The Nasdaq was lower at 5036.37 for a loss of -19.41 points or -0.38%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 12.33 for a loss of -0.11 points or -0.88%.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains in the Index for the day.
McDonald's (MCD, Financial) 2.24%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Financial) 1.74%
UnitedHealth (UNH, Financial) 1.37%
Housing Starts was the leading economic report on the economic calendar for Tuesday. The Housing Starts report showed an increase of 4.8% for June. Housing starts were 1.189 million SAAR which was at the higher end of the consensus range for the month and beat the consensus average of 1.170 million. Housing starts in June improved from a SAAR of 1.164 million in May.
Housing starts were another sign of good health for the economy however the main focus for the day was on earnings. With second quarter earnings nearly at their peak, approximately 30 publicly traded companies released their earnings reports on Tuesday. Leading companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average reporting earnings included Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) before the bell and Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) after the bell.
Goldman Sachs reported second quarter earnings of $3.72 beating analysts’ average estimate by 72 cents. Revenue for the second quarter was $7.93 billion which was down 12.6% from the comparable quarter. While comparable quarter revenue was down, the company beat analysts’ estimates for the quarter by $350 million.
Microsoft reported its earnings at 4:00 PM EST with the earnings conference call at 5:30 PM EST. Microsoft reported fourth quarter and full year earnings. For the fourth quarter, revenue was $22.6 billion, an increase of 1.9% from the comparable quarter. Revenue for the quarter beat analysts’ average estimate by $460 million. Earnings for the quarter were $0.69, beating the average estimate from analysts by $0.11.
Economic factors continue to show improvement with the housing market at the top of the list of industries gaining. Earnings however appear to be slightly wavering with only modest corporate market improvements in the second quarter, yet better results expected for the third and fourth quarters.
In a CNBC report Tuesday, market specialists gave their insight on the current market environment for stocks also discussing some of the factors slowing momentum in the market.
Disclosure: I do not own any stocks included in this article.
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