NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were mostly lower early Tuesday as investors weighed an upgraded US growth forecast from the IMF and mixed earnings reports.
The International Monetary Fund lifted its US growth forecast for 2024 to 2.7 percent, up 0.6 percent from the January forecast as its chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas characterized the global economy as “quite resilient.”
The report comes as investors monitor developments in the Middle East where Israel has continued to hint at retaliation after an Iran weekend attack of drones and missiles that was largely repelled.
Dow outshines peers on earnings boost
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 37,816.73.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent to 5,047.95, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also shed 0.3 percent to 15,837.41.
“The market in a wait and see mode right now,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments, who described some of the hesitancy as coming from uncertainty of whether a recent pullback hearkens a deeper retreat by stocks.
Among companies reporting earnings, UnitedHealth rose 6.0 percent, while Bank of America lost 3.0 percent and Johnson & Johnson fell 2.2 percent.
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