US Stocks Close Lower                  04/20 16:15

   Stocks fell for the second straight day Tuesday, giving up more of their 
recent gains as Wall Street shifts its focus on a busy week of corporate 
earnings reports.

   (AP) -- Stocks fell for the second straight day Tuesday, giving up more of 
their recent gains as Wall Street shifts its focus on a busy week of corporate 
earnings reports.

   The S&P 500 fell 0.7%. The benchmark index has now lost nearly all of its 
gain from last week. Apple fell 1.3% as part of a broad slide in technology 
companies. Banks also accounted for a big share of the selling, which came as 
bond yields fell, reversing course after moving higher on Monday.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.56% from 1.60%. Bank of America 
dropped 2.8% and Citigroup slid 3.2%.

   Investors turned defensive, favoring utilities, real estate stocks and a mix 
of companies that make consumer staples like food and household products. 
General Mills rose 1.6% and Clorox added 3%.

   The market has been swaying between gains and record highs to pullbacks as 
investors weigh solid economic growth against the risks still posed by the 
virus pandemic. That push and pull will likely continue as vaccine distribution 
rolls on and various industries reopen.

   "Overall, we're going to have some volatility in the market this year, but 
everything to me looks fairly rosy for the next six months or so," said Sylvia 
Jablonski, chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs.

   The S&P 500 fell 28.32 points to 4,134.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average 
lost 256.33 points, or 0.8%, to 33,821.30. Both the S&P 500 and Dow hit 
all-time highs on Friday. After shedding an early gain, the technology-heavy 
Nasdaq slid 128.50 points, or 0.9%, to 13,786.27.

   The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks, which has been outpacing 
the broader market all year, took a heavier loss, shedding 43.79 points, or 2%, 
to 2,188.21.

   Investors are in the middle of first-quarter earnings season. Roughly 80 
members of the S&P 500 will report their results this week, as well as one out 
of every three members of the Dow. Wall Street will be looking to see if 
Corporate America is recovering with the rest of the economy from the 
coronavirus pandemic.

   On average, analysts expect quarterly profits across the S&P 500 to be up 
24% from a year earlier, according to FactSet.

   While earnings are likely to drive the market's gyrations the next few 
weeks, investors remain concerned about whether companies are prepared to deal 
with the impact of higher interest rates should inflation increase, said Greg 
Bassuk, CEO of Axs Investments.

   "One question is with rates likely continuing to rise over the months ahead, 
and more importantly with inflation likely to rise, whether companies are going 
to be able to charge more for their products to keep up with greater expenses," 
Bassuk said.

   United Airlines slid 8.5% after reporting a loss that was wider than 
analysts were expecting, and drugmaker Abbott Laboratories fell 3.6% after 
reporting revenue that fell short of forecasts.

   Kansas City Southern jumped 15.2% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after 
another Canadian railway company offered to buy the railroad for $33.7 billion, 
far higher than a $25 billion offer made by Canadian Pacific last month.

   Netflix slumped 10.6% in after-hours trading after the video streaming 
pioneer said it added 4 million more worldwide subscribers from January through 
March, its smallest gain during that three-month period in four years. That was 
about 2 million fewer than both management and analysts had predicted Netflix 
would add during the first quarter.