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New York - The Dow fell in early trade on Tuesday following disappointing earnings from IBM and United Technologies, as the market looked ahead to results from Apple later in the day.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17 981.85, down 118.56 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.02% at 2 126.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.19% to 5 228.53. The Nasdaq has notched record highs the last three sessions.
IBM slumped 4.9% as it reported lower revenues for the 13th straight quarter, with second-quarter sales dropping this time by more than 13% to $20.81bn.
United Technologies dropped 6.5% as it slashed its profit forecast due to economic weakness in China and the drag of the strong dollar, and said second-quarter earnings fell 8.2%.
Verizon Communications, another Dow member, lost 3.0% after reporting second-quarter net income of $4.4bn, about 0.7% above that of the year-ago period. Revenues of $32.22bn fell shy of the $32.45bn projected by analysts.
Harley-Davidson advanced 3.5% as second-quarter earnings and revenues both topped analyst expectations. The motorcycle company confirmed its 2015 targets, including a two to 4% rise in motorcycle deliveries compared with last year.
Public relations and advertising giant Omnicom fell 1.4% as second-quarter net income dropped 2.8% to $310m, due in part to a hit in revenues from the strong dollar.
Qualcomm gained 2.4% following a Wall Street Journal report that said the company plans a strategic review that could lead to a breakup of the chipmaker.
Chesapeake Energy fell 3.9% following an announcement that it will drop its dividend and steer the money into its drilling programme.
Tesla Motors fell 4.2% following a downgrade from UBS.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held steady at 2.38%, while the 30-year rose to 3.12% from 3.10% on Monday. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
