(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)*SEC investigating NYSE opening bell glitch*3M slides on downbeat Q1 forecast*J&J falls on sales warning; GE down on weak profit view*Microsoft to report quarterly earnings after market close*Indexes: Dow up 0.18%, S&P 500 off 0.13%, Nasdaq down
0.25%NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street was mixed on
Tuesday as a raft of mixed earnings took some wind out of the
sails of the recent rally.The session got off to an rocky start, as a spate of
NYSE-listed stocks were halted at the opening bell due to an
apparent technical glitch, which caused initial price confusion
and prompted an investigation by the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC).More than 80 stocks were affected by the glitch, which
caused wide swings in opening prices in stocks, including
Walmart Inc and Nike Inc."It looks like NYSE got on it real early," said Joseph
Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. "Now
they’re trying to determine what opening trade prices were.""Everyone involved in trade settlements is going to have a
long day today."All three indexes sputtered near the starting line, with
little apparent momentum in either direction.Fourth quarter earnings season is in full swing, with 72 of
the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 65% have
beaten consensus, just a hair below the 66% long-term average,
according to Refinitiv.On aggregate, analysts now expect S&P 500 earnings 2.9%
below the year-ago quarter, down from the 1.6% year-on-year
decline seen on Jan. 1, per Refinitiv."Earnings don’t make a bull or bear case for the market yet,
but there's an anxiousness among investors to be long when the
Fed is done raising rates," Sroka added. "We’re hitting a ramp
in the earnings cycle, and by next week we'll have a lot more
information on the direction of the market."Economic data showed shallower-than-expected contraction in
the manufacturing and services sector in the first weeks of the
year, suggesting that the Federal Reserve's restrictive interest
rates are dampening demand.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.69 points,
or 0.18%, to 33,690.25, the S&P 500 lost 5.36 points, or
0.13%, to 4,014.45 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped
28.39 points, or 0.25%, to 11,336.03.Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, industrials
led the percentage gainers, while healthcare
was down the most.Intercontinental Exchange Inc, owner of the New York
Stock Exchange, dropped 2.5% as SEC investigators searched for
the cause of Tuesday's opening bell confusion.Alphabet Inc shares dipped 1.8% after the Justice
Department filed a lawsuit against Google for abusing its
dominance of the digital advertising business.Johnson & Johnson's profit guidance came in above
analyst expectations. Even so, its stock softened 0.3%.Industrial conglomerates 3M Co and General Electric
Co both provided underwhelming forward guidance due to
inflationary headwinds.3M's shares were off 5.1% while General Electric's were
modestly lower.Aerospace/defense companies Lockheed Martin Corp and
Raytheon Technologies Corp were a study in contrasts,
with the former issuing a disappointing profit forecast and the
latter beating estimates on solid travel demand.Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were up 1.5% and 2.5%,
respectively.Railroad operator Union Pacific Corp missed profit
estimates as labor shortages and severe weather delayed
shipments. Its shares shed 2.7%.Microsoft Corp is due to report after the bell.Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.16-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.06-to-1 ratio favored decliners.The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 69 new highs and 21 new lows.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Shreyashi
Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora
Ellis)