The Dow Jones Industrial Average pared early losses and ended 0.3% higher on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 also shook off early downside and was flat at 4 p.m. ET. The index moved decisively above the 200-day line on Monday.
The Nasdaq closed 0.3% lower. The tech index is the biggest gainer for the year so far, adding 8% ahead of Big Tech earnings. The small-cap Russell 2000 bucked the larger trend in early trading but fell 0.3% at the closing bell.
Volume on the NYSE and the Nasdaq was lighter compared to the same time on Monday.
Crude oil fell 2% to trade at $80.17 per barrel. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 5 basis points to 3.46%.
Thursday's GDP report and Friday's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data, a Powell favorite, will be pointers to likely Fed action on Feb. 1.
Earnings On Deck
Earnings from Dow Jones leader Microsoft are on deck after the market closes. According to Gartner, PC sales plunged 28.5% in the fourth quarter and 16.2% for 2022. Slowing PC sales and Azure cloud growth are headwinds for the stock.
On Monday, the bellwether software giant said it had made its third investment in OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT. Its earlier investments in the company were in 2019 and 2021.
The Redmond, Wash-based company plans on bringing advanced AI features to its Azure cloud service, which competes with Amazon's Amazon Web Services. Microsoft has been working with ChatGPT to enhance its search engine Bing, hoping to compete with Google-parent Alphabet, according to reports. ChatGPT's AI feature will allow humanlike responses to search queries.
Elsewhere, Microsoft's bid to acquire Activision Blizzard is in limbo as it faces antitrust scrutiny in the EU. According to reports, the European Commission is preparing a charge sheet citing its objections to the deal. MSFT is testing support at its 50-day line.
General Electric saw revenue climb to $21.7 billion with earnings of $1.99 per share. Shares rose 1% in Tuesday's session as they build the right side of a cup base with a buy point of 90.74.
Earnings are due for IBD Leaderboard stock United Rentals on Wednesday. Also on tap Wednesday: Steel Dynamics, Tesla, Lam Research and ASML. URI stock is approaching a buy point of 415.09 in a consolidation pattern.
Nucor, Intel, KLA and Mobileye will report Thursday.
Stocks Moving Outside Dow Jones
Alphabet faces an antitrust probe from the U.S. Department of Justice, which alleges that Google's monopoly in digital ads reduces competition. The search giant may have to divest its ad business altogether if it loses its case in court. Shares fell 2% after the news Tuesday.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell slightly during today's trading but closed flat. The big pharma company had a dismal quarter that saw sales fall 4.4% to $23.7 billion. Earnings of $1.33 per share marked a 24.9% year-over-year decline. JNJ was down for 11 consecutive trading sessions, incurring a total loss of over 7%.
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