The Dow dipped a quarter percent, while the S&P added three-tenths of a percent and the Nasdaq added more than four-tenths.

Whether the benchmark S&P 500 can climb for a fourth session largely depends on corporate earnings - which were a mixed bag on Tuesday.

Among the winners, Verizon Communications... up more than 6.5% after forecasting a strong annual profit and posting its highest quarterly subscriber additions in nearly two years.

Shares of Procter & Gamble gained over 4% after it topped second-quarter profit expectations.

On the flip side, 3M tumbled 11% after forecasting dour annual earnings, while Johnson & Johnson dipped more than 1.5% after reporting quarterly results just above expectations.

Liz Miller, President of Summit Place Financial Advisors, says a key factor separating winners from losers was their outlook - with investors rewarding companies who saw solid growth ahead.

"Procter & Gamble was sort of flat-to-even, nudging down, when the report first came out, but the stock completely turned around on the conference call when guidance was given to that strength in North America and a very positive outlook for 2024. And that's the common theme across all the winners today."

Netflix, which closed up more than one percent, rallied more than 8% in after-hours trading, when the video streaming service reported subscriber growth that blew past Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter.

Shares of D.R. Horton ended down more than 9% after the homebuilder missed estimates for first-quarter profit.

Investors are awaiting Friday's personal consumption expenditure, or PCE, index - the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge - as well as this week's first estimate of fourth-quarter GDP... both of which should play key roles in the Federal Reserve's next decision on interest rates when it meets at the end of the month.