Wall St muted as investors pause ahead of big corporate earnings

Wall Street’s main indexes were subdued on Monday as investors took a breather after the previous week’s rally, awaiting results from major companies that could influence whether markets would sustain their record highs or decline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 89.46 points, or 0.21%, to 43,186.45, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab lost 4.31 points, or 0.07%, to 5,860.36 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 3.00 points, or 0.01%, to 18,491.32.

Treasury yields rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rising as high as 4.14%, pressuring rate-sensitive stocks.
The Real Estate (.SPLRCR), opens new tab sector lost 0.8% amid broader market declines. Consumer Discretionary (.SPLRCD), opens new tab was off 0.7%, weighed by Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab, which were down 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.
Of the so-called Magnificent Seven group of stocks, most slipped. However, Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab gained 1.6% and 0.2%, respectively.

“What we’re seeing today is a market that is basically taking a bit of a breather and probably consolidating some of those strong gains that we had last week,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist, Spartan Capital Securities.
“The market last week closed at record highs and despite the run up in yields… remains resilient because of the fact that the earnings are coming in better than expected.”

Optimism around earnings persisted ahead of the 114 S&P 500 companies that are scheduled to report results this week, including Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, Coca-Cola (KO.N), opens new tab and Texas Instruments (TXN.O), opens new tab. Of the companies that reported as of Friday, 83.1% beat earnings estimates, according to data compiled by LSEG.
However, risks such as rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, gains in Treasury yields and some volatility ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election are pressuring equities.
In broader markets, trades expected to perform well if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins in November were catching bids, aspolls showed the former U.S. president’s chances improving.

“As the election date approaches, even small changes in tight polls could drive seemingly erratic swings in market sentiment,” Danske Bank analysts said.
Spirit Airlines (SAVE.N), opens new tab skyrocketed 33% after the company reached an agreement to extend a debt refinancing deadline by two months.
Humana (HUM.N), opens new tab gained 2.3% after a report said Cigna (CI.N), opens new tab had resumed merger talks with the health insurer.
Home sales, flash PMI and durable goods reports are on the data docket through the week, as is the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book.
Fed officials Neel Kashkari, Jeffrey Schmid and Mary Daly are scheduled to speak on the day.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.74-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 44 new highs and 12 new lows.