STORY: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as investors gauged the latest inflation data and braced for quarterly earnings reports to justify high stock valuations.
The Dow added half a percent, the S&P 500 ticked up slightly but the Nasdaq slid nearly a quarter of a percent.
A Labor Department report out Tuesday showed the producer price index, which measures wholesale inflation, rose less than expected in December.
That gave stocks an early boost, but investors' optimism soon faded, explains Brian Krawez, president and lead portfolio manager at Scharf Investments.
"Stocks, they were a little volatile. You had some good news on the PPI [Producer Price Index] data that heartened investors but you also had news from [Eli] Lilly which was disappointing. That stock was down pretty big. And you also just had some ongoing concerns about [U.S. president - elect Donald] Trump tariffs and interest rates, which is also been weighing on the markets."
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, at more than 4.7%, held near a 14-month high reached Monday.
Quarterly earnings kick off Wednesday with results from big banks, which are expected to post stronger profits fueled by robust dealmaking and trading.
Shares of Goldman Sachs gained 1.5% ahead of its results on Wednesday.
In other stock moves, shares of Eli Lilly tumbled more than 6.5% after it forecast fourth-quarter sales of weight-loss drug Zepbound below estimates.
And shares of Boeing shed 2% after the planemaker reported that its annual deliveries dropped in 2024 to their lowest level since the pandemic.
Wednesday also brings more inflation data, with the consumer price index reading, which will further shape expectations for the Federal Reserve's next policy moves.