By Sruthi Shankar
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks slipped on Tuesday as the latest batch of earnings from companies such as Pfizerand Tapestry disappointed investors already concerned about rising costs and protectionist policies.
A drop in oil prices, due to uncertainties around the Irannuclear deal, weighed on Energy Stocks The S%26pEnergy Indexwas down 0.9 percent.
U.S. equity index futures got a bump overnight after PresidentDonald Trumppostponed the imposition of Steeland aluminum tariffs on Canada, the European Unionand Mexicountil June 1, and reached agreements for permanent exemptions for Argentina, Australiaand Brazil
The decision comes ahead of Treasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin's highly anticipated trip to Chinalater this week to discuss trade issues.
Shares of Ak Steeland U.s. Steelwere down more than 3 percent.
At 10:00 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Averagewas down 143.28 points, or 0.59 percent, at 24,019.87, the S%26p 500was down 5.25 points, or 0.20 percent, at 2,642.80 and the NasdaqComposite was down 1.54 points, or 0.02 percent, at 7,064.73.
"You had the tariff news, but that may have already been baked in," said Scott Brown, Chief Economistat Raymond Jamesin St. Petersburg, Florida
"It causes the same amount of uncertainty, you had worse-than-expected revenue from Pfizer, and there might be some caution ahead of Apple results."
Pfizerfell 2.3 percent after the largest U.S. drugmaker's quarterly revenue missed estimates. Merckshares also dipped 0.6 percent despite profit beating estimates and the company lifting earnings forecast for the year.
Tapestry, formerly Coach, tumbled 12 percent after it reported a drop in quarterly margins and a steeper-than-expected decline in same-store sales in its Kate Spadebusiness.
Apple, the world's biggest publicly traded company, comes out with results after market closes on Tuesday.
The U.s. Federal Reservebegins its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday. Although no change in policy rates is expected, investors will watch for clues on whether three more rate hikes are due for the rest of 2018.
Trading volumes could remain light as most financial centers across Europeand Asiawere closed on account of May Day
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.97-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.92-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq
The S%26pindex recorded one new 52-week high and 16 new lows, while the Nasdaqrecorded 22 new highs and 44 new lows.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankarin Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)