US STOCKS-Wall Street ends mostly flat ahead of earnings wave

* Tesla slips, weighs on S&P 500 and Nasdaq
* 3M slides on warning of higher costs
* UPS jumps as revenue tops expectations
* Indexes: Dow +0.01%, S&P 500 -0.02%, Nasdaq -0.34%

(Updates with stock moves following quarterly reports)
By Noel Randewich and Krystal Hu
April 27 (Reuters) - Tepid results from Tesla and 3M weighed
on Wall Street on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow ending near
flat as investors focused on wave of earnings reports from
Microsoft, Alphabet and other corporate heavyweights.
Electric-car maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O dropped 4.5% after its
quarterly results late on Monday fell short of some investors'
expectations, with its revenue beat largely supported by sales
of environmental credits and selling bitcoin, rather than
vehicle sales.
In extended trade on Tuesday, Microsoft Corp MSFT.O fell
nearly 4% following its quarterly report, while Google-parent
Alphabet GOOGL.O jumped 5% following its report.
Shares of Apple Inc AAPL.O , Facebook Inc FB.O and
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , slated to report later this week, were
mixed for much of the trading session.
"Everyone is waiting to see the big tech earnings after bell
today. If it's good, I think I think we'll have a lot of
positive momentum. If they're disappointing, we may be in for a
very volatile week," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive
officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Shares of 3M Co MMM.N fell 2.6% after the conglomerate
said supply chain disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and the
February winter storm were pushing up its costs. First-quarter overall earnings per share for S&P 500
companies are expected to jump 35% from a year earlier, which
would be the biggest surge since the fourth quarter of 2010,
according to Refinitiv IBES data.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended at record levels on Monday,
recently supported by improving economic data, a swift vaccine
distribution and unprecedented monetary and fiscal measures.
"We are in that spot where the economy is recovering, there
is stimulus money to be spent and people have increased their
desire and propensity to consume. For the remainder of the year,
you're going to see some fairly optimistic thoughts," said Tom
Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in
Atlanta.
Investors will monitor the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting
for cues on the central bank's thinking on inflation, bond
buying and risks to the financial system posed by soaring asset
prices. The Fed is not expected to change its policy guidance at
the end of the meeting on Wednesday. In the latest upbeat economic data, U.S. consumer confidence
jumped to a 14-month high in April as more services businesses
reopened on increased vaccinations and additional fiscal
stimulus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.01% to end at
33,984.93 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.02% to
4,186.72.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.34%, to 14,090.22.
Also after the bell, Starbucks SBUX.O dipped 2.7%
following its quarterly report, in which it lifted its annual
forecast. United Parcel Service Inc UPS.N jumped about 10% after it
topped estimates for quarterly revenue. General Electric GE.N fell 0.6% after it disappointed
investors who were expecting the industrial conglomerate to
upgrade its 2021 outlook. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.04-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.24-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 54 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 125 new highs and 25 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.7 billion shares, compared
with the 9.9 billion full-session average over the last 20
trading days.