U.S. stocks down after IBM, others report weak results

The market extended losses in late trade, with poor U.S. earnings from the likes of IBM putting pressure on Wall Street and a strengthening euro hitting Europe’s exporters.

At 9:54 a.m. ET (1354 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was down 125.4 points, or 0.69 percent, at 17,975.01, the S&P 500 was down 1.85 points, or 0.09 percent, at 2,126.43 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 3.74 points, or 0.07 percent, at 5,222.60.

The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +0.64% ticked 0.3% higher to 4002.64 in midday trading, after closing up 0.9% on Monday.

Strong earnings from technology companies have helped drive gains on the Nasdaq, which has outperformed both the Dow and S&P 500 in July.

Gold steadied after plunging earlier in the week as some investors viewed the slide as overdone. Some 70 percent of them have beaten Wall Street’s already low expectations.

THE QUOTE: “Today’s weakness is somewhat expected”, said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “Investors appear to be in a listen-only mode as we await greater clarity on second-quarter results”. Technology stocks were among the biggest decliners.

Without a lift from the team in Cupertino, California, overall earnings for the sector would decline 6 percent over past year, according to FactSet data.

Plunges in shares of United Technologies and those of IBM, last trading 7.7 percent and 6.2 percent lower respectively, dragged the Dow down.

Telecom giant Verizon (VZ) also showed a notable move to the downside after reporting better than expected second quarter earnings but on revenues that came in below estimates.

Tesla fell 4.7 percent to $269.35 after UBS downgraded its rating on the stock to “sell” from “neutral”. United Technologies (UTX) missed revenue targets and cuts its fiscal year guidance citing softness in Europe and China.

Chinese stocks rose for the fourth session in a row on Tuesday, with the Shanghai Composite Index up 0.6%.

Chesapeake Energy dropped more than 5% after the oil explorer canceled its annual dividend and redirect funds to capital expenditure in 2016. The stock lost 67 cents to $9.60.

Harley-Davidson was up 3.9 percent to $57.12 after its quarterly profit beat expectations. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was also flat at 5,787.

Hong Kong added 0.52 per cent, or 131.62 points, to 25,536.43.

On Wall Street, Tollbooth Strategy Index fell 0.2% or 23.99 to 10,923.55.

ENERGY: Benchmark USA crude rose 52 cents to $50.95 a barrel in New York. The metal fell for an eighth straight session on Monday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big-fund-suspected-of-selling-gold-as-price-crashes-to-five-year-low-2015-07-20), pushing prices to their lowest level in more than five years.

Traders anxious that the strengthening dollar and the expected increase in US interest rate is likely to keep the Novartis earnings in check in the next few quarter.