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New York - Wall Street stocks dropped early on Tuesday in volatile trade following a mixed batch of earnings news.
About 35 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 910.06, down 66.98 points (0.37%).
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 8.96 (0.43%) to 2 083.47, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose shed 35.31 (0.71%) to 4 952.94.
Dow member JPMorgan Chase rose 1.9% after first-quarter earnings jumped 12.2% from a year ago to $5.9bn.
Wells Fargo shed 1.6% as earnings slipped 1.5% to $5.8bn on higher expenses. However, the results translated into $1.04 per share, six cents above analyst expectations.
Investors fear the strong dollar will weigh on results this quarter, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.
"There's the prospect of a poor earnings season, which is probably going to cause valuation adjustments," he said.
Dow component Johnson & Johnson slipped 0.1% after the health care products giant trimmed its full-year profit forecast due to the strong dollar. First-quarter net income translated into $1.56 per share, two cents above expectations.
Freight railroad Norfolk Southern dropped 6.1% following a warning that first-quarter earnings are expected to be 15% below last year's due to lower revenues, in part from the fall in coal volumes.
Fellow railroads CSX and Union Pacific fell 1.1% and 2.3%, respectively.
Procter & Gamble edged down 0.1% following a Wall Street Journal report that said chief executive A.G. Lafley could step down as soon as this summer and install a successor.
Amazon rose 0.5% on a Jefferies report that praised its improved shipping and said it was well positioned to benefit from the growth of online retail.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 1.87% from 1.94% Monday, while the 30-year declined to 2.52% from 2.58%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
