Stocks tread water as earnings pull down Dow

US stocks hit pause on a record-setting rally as the focus turned to the day’s stream of earnings for insight into the health of corporate America and the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was down about 0.1% after the blue-chip index broke above 38,000 for the first time on Monday. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) added around 0.1% to hold near a record close, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also popped 0.1%.

Stocks have bounced out of their early January slump in recent days as investors increasingly embrace the idea the Federal Reserve could nail a “soft landing” for the US economy. Data showing resilience in the face of higher-than-usual interest rates has buoyed those expectations.

An upbeat 2024 profit forecast from United Airlines (UAL) helped lift its shares by 7% on Tuesday.

Shares of other airlines, including Delta (DAL) and American Airlines (AAL), rose after the forecast, which came even as United warned of a hit from the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes.

Live1 update

Tue, January 23, 2024 at 6:32 AM PST

Stocks open mixed

US stocks hit pause on a record-setting rally as focus turned to the day’s stream of earnings for insight into the health of corporate America and the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was down about 0.1% after the blue-chip index broke above 38,000 for the first time on Monday. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) 0.1% to hold near a record close, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also popped.

Key Dow components 3M and Johnson & Johnson weighed on the major average as the stocks fell following quarterly earnings reports.