Stock market today: S&P 500 vaults to fresh high while earnings drag on Dow

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) extended its record-setting rally as focus turned to the day’s stream of earnings for insights into the health of corporate America and the economy.

The S&P 500 rose nearly 0.3% to hit a new closing high of 4,864.61. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also popped Tuesday, rising 0.4% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell about 0.2% after the blue-chip index broke above 38,000 for the first time on Monday.

After a tech-driven rally pushed the market to new record highs, earnings in other sectors served as the key market movers on Tuesday.

An earnings disappointment weighed on the Dow as 3M (MMM) tumbled more than 10% on Tuesday as the company’s 2024 profit outlook came in below Wall Street’s expectations.

Consumer Staples (XLP) andd Communications Services (XLC) were the biggest gainers in the S&P 500, with staples rising rising more than 1% as investors digested quarterly results from Procter & Gamble (PG) and Verizon (VZ), among others.

Elsewhere on the earnings front, an upbeat 2024 profit forecast from United Airlines (UAL) helped lift its shares by 5% 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.

Netflix (NFLX) is also in focus, with the streaming giant reporting earnings after the bell. The company on Tuesday announced a deal with TKO Group’s WWE (TKO) that will bring WWE’s flagship program, Raw, to the streaming service, beginning January 2025. TKO shares rose nearly 15% on the news.