Tech earnings drag S&P and Nasdaq lower as Dow inches up amid market caution

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed in the red on Tuesday on account of weak performances in chip and megacap shares

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed in the red on Tuesday on account of weak performances in chip and megacap shares ahead of key tech earnings this week. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones index clinched modest gains.

Microsoft fell 0.89 percent to $422.92 ahead of its quarterly results and further fell 5 percent post-market after disappointing Azure cloud-computing growth. Nvidia plunged 7.04 percent to $103.73, pulling the Philadelphia semiconductor index down 3.88 percent. Notably, Nvidia is the second-best S&P 500 performer this year.

Apple, Amazon, and Meta Platforms are set to report earnings this week; Apple rose 0.26 percent while Amazon and Meta fell 0.81 percent and 0.54 percent, respectively.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 percent to 40,743.33, the S&P 500 lost 0.5 percent to 5,436.44, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.28 percent to 17,147.42.

Energy and financials were the top-performing sectors, while technology lagged by 2.2 percent.

The market is betting on a slight chance of a Fed rate cut by 25 basis points at Wednesday's meeting, with a cut fully priced in for September. Labor data releases this week, including Friday's government payrolls report, will be closely watched. June's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed 8.18 million job openings, above the expected 8 million.

Advancing issues outpaced decliners by 1.54-to-1 on the NYSE, while declining issues outnumbered advancers by 1.16-to-1 on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 73 new 52-week highs and one new low, with the Nasdaq recording 133 new highs and 126 new lows. Trading volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.25 billion shares, slightly above the 20-day average of 11.19 billion.