US stocks trade mixed after key earnings reports miss the mark

• US stocks were mixed on Tuesday as some earnings reports underperformed expectations.
• GE, 3M, and Lockheed Martin beat fourth-quarter views but gave disappointing forecasts.

US stocks finished mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average pulling back after a record-setting session on Monday.

General Electric, 3M, and Lockheed Martin beat fourth-quarter views but gave disappointing guidance. Meanwhile, Verizon and United Airlines both jumped on strong earnings, though the airline operator warned that first-quarter results could be hit by the recent grounding of its Boeing 757 Max 9 planes.

Investors will be watching for Netflix, which reports after Tuesday's closing bell, and for Tesla, which is due late Wednesday.

GDP data from the fourth quarter is also set for Thursday and a key inflation report is due Friday, helping inform the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy decision.

While strong market hopes for an imminent interest rate pivot has fueled the stock rally, traders are growing less certain about how soon rate cuts could happen. Where markets once indicated strong expectations for a cut as soon as March, most investors now see one happening in May, the CME FedWatch Tool shows.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 4,864.60, up 0.29%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 37,905.45, down 0.25% (96.36 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 15,425.94, up 0.43%

Here's what else happened today:

• Commercial property will face a debt reckoning in 2024, Capital Economics warned.
• A retail trading frenzy has sent Spirit Airlines soaring 131%.
• Maybe bitcoin ETFs were a "sell the news" event after all.
• Billionaire CEO Howard Lutnick will launch a platform for interest-rate futures trading.
• Fed rate hikes made dollar-based lending expensive — it's another reason fueling de-dollarization.
• "Bond king" Bill Gross warned that a major recession is on the table if the Fed doesn't lower rates this year.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• Oil prices fell. West Texas Intermediate crude oil dipped 0.33% to $74.47 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, slid 0.45% to $79.65 a barrel.
• Gold climbed 0.38% to $2,028.33 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield gained 4.2 basis points to 4.136%.
• Bitcoin slumped 0.7% to $39,248.