S&P 500 cuts losses as earnings season heats up ahead of Microsoft earnings By Investing.com

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com — The S&P 500 cut the bulk of losses Tuesday, but investors had to contend with wild swings as tech took a breather and investors digested a slew of mixed quarterly results ahead of earnings from Microsoft.

The was flat, gained 0.3%, or 107 points, and the was down 0.24%.

Tech was roughly unchanged on the day as gains in Apple (NASDAQ:) were offset by a wobble in Alphabet (NASDAQ:) as the latter attracted further regulatory scrutiny.

The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging that the search-engine giant violated antitrust laws by abusing its monopoly in ad technology.

Chip stocks gave back some gains from a day earlier on struggles in Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) as Bernstein downgraded the chipmaker to Market Perform from Outperform, citing weakness in the personal computer and new parts markets.

The sluggish direction in tech comes just as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:) and chip bellwether Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:) are set to report quarterly results after the closing bell.

Industrials, however, helped the broader market cut the bulk of its intraday losses, led by an 8% surge in PACCAR Inc (NASDAQ:) after the track manufacturing firm reported quarterly results that on both the top and bottom lines.

Defense companies including Raytheon Technologies Corp (NYSE:) and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:) also underpinned gains in the sector following the latter’s that topped estimates.

Elsewhere on the earnings front, material maker 3M Company (NYSE:) slumped more than 4% after quarterly earnings and the company flagging a slowdown demand announcing 2,500 layoffs.

Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:), meanwhile, fell nearly 2% as its fourth-quarter earnings per share was offset by a gloomy outlook as CEO Harris Simmons said the bank was socking away more money to protect against a slowing economy.

In meme-related news, Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:) continued to put the squeeze on short sellers, rallying more than 11% even as the retailer is widely expected to be on the brink of bankruptcy.