Lumen Technologies hires Sean Alexander as head of Connected Ecosystems
(In fourth paragraph corrects to show that market cap for
Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple, Facebook and Amazon together
comprise 22% of S&P 500 market value, not 40%)
* Tesla slips despite revenue beat
* 3M slides on warning of higher costs
* UPS jumps as revenue tops expectations
* Indexes down: Dow 0.07%, S&P 0.14%, Nasdaq 0.35%
By Medha Singh and Sruthi Shankar
April 27 (Reuters) - Lackluster results from Tesla and 3M
dragged Wall Street's main indexes lower on Tuesday, shifting
investor focus to earnings from big technology companies,
including Microsoft and Alphabet, later in the day.
Electric-car maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O tumbled 4%, dragging
down the S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC , as it earnings
beat was supported more by sales of environmental credits and
bitcoin liquidation rather than auto sales. "Tesla is a special case. A lot of the gains for the company
were driven by its bitcoin bet, which is a sideline. It's good
that it sold a lot of cars, but it didn't make a lot of money
from the cars," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at
Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O slipped
more than 0.5% each, while shares of Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Facebook Inc FB.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , slated to
report later this week, were mixed. The five companies combined
account for about 22% of the S&P 500's market capitalization.
"What we're really looking forward to is guidance about
where we're going in the next six months to a year and that is
going to set the tone for the markets," Forrest said.
Shares of 3M Co MMM.N slipped 2.9% after the conglomerate
said supply chain disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and the
February winter storm were pushing its costs higher.
Overall earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to jump
34.3% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to
Refinitiv IBES data.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended at record levels on Monday,
with the tech-heavy Nasdaq completing a full recovery from its
11% correction that began in February.
Recent data indicating that the U.S. economy was set for a
strong rebound, backed by vaccine distributions and
unprecedented monetary and fiscal support, has provided much of
that support.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is not expected to change its
policy guidance at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday
but could shine some light on U.S. central bank's thinking on
inflation, bond buying and risks to the financial system posed
by soaring asset prices. Data showed U.S. consumer confidence jumped to a 14-month
high in April as increased vaccination against COVID-19 and
additional fiscal stimulus allowed for more services businesses
to reopen, boosting demand and hiring by companies. At 10:13 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 23.15 points, or 0.07%, at 33,958.42, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 5.87 points, or 0.14%, at 4,181.75 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 50.07 points, or 0.35%, at 14,088.70.
United Parcel Service Inc UPS.N jumped 11.2% after it
topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue. General Electric GE.N fell 3.5% as it disappointed
investors who were expecting the industrial conglomerate to
upgrade its 2021 outlook. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.03-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.14-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 75 new highs and five new lows.