Stocks Fall Tuesday As Traders Wait to See If Alphabet, Microsoft Earnings Deliver

Stocks slipped Tuesday as traders assessed the latest quarterly figures from several major companies, while awaiting reports from key tech names.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 27 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 dipped 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.5%.

Shares of First Republic Bank slid more than 20% after the regional bank posted its latest quarterly results. The bank said late Monday that deposits dropped 40% to $104.5 billion in the first quarter but have since stabilized.

First Republic will also be trimming expenses, including slashing headcount by 20% to 25% in the second quarter. The regional bank has been closely followed after investors grew concerned it could face the same fate as Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, whose closures set off an industry crisis last month. First Republic shares have fallen more than 86% so far this year.

UPS dropped almost 5% on the back of quarterly results that missed Wall Street’s expectations. PepsiCo, General Motors and McDonald’s, meanwhile, were up on better-than-expected numbers.

“Earnings season thus far are as mixed as one could imagine, although the one common denominator centers around cost cuts, which comes from worries about the economy and investor focus on profit margins,” said George Ball, chairman of Sanders Morris Harris.

Microsoft and Alphabet are slated to report Tuesday, the first of multiple Big Tech names on the earnings schedule this week. But Ball said those stocks could struggle, adding that large-cap tech may not be a market leader in the remainder of the year after its early-2023 rally.

Alphabet shares fell slightly ahead of the Google-parent’s earnings after the bell. The company has been on an earnings cold streak, missing Wall Street estimates the last four quarters, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

Investors on Tuesday will get a gauge on the state of the housing prices through the new home sales numbers in March, as well as the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index data for February. Consumer confidence data for April will also be released.