Stocks edged higher Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of third-quarter earnings reports.
And with good reason. After the close, Alcoamissed estimates and Legg Masonwarned. Wednesday will see the release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes, Thursday the Fed’s Beige Book summary of economic conditions, and Friday GE’searnings report.
Technology earnings reports will begin in earnest next week, with IBM, Inteland Yahooreporting on Oct. 17, and eBayand Googlereporting on the 18th and 19th, respectively.
Google lost ground in Tuesday’s trading session, slipping half a percent on its $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube.
VocalTecsoared 44% on a deal with IBM
24/7surged 15% on an RBC upgrade.
Parametricand Perficientgained ground after raising guidance, while Cienafell on in-line guidance and InFocusslumped on a warning.
Hawkish comments from Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher also added to the cautious tone on Tuesday.
The Nasdaq added 3 to 2315, the S&P 500 rose 2 to 1353, and the Dow added 9 to 11,867. Volume rose to 2.45 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.82 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 17-14 on the NYSE, and 15-14 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 62% on the NYSE, and 57% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 219-15 on the NYSE, and 172-55 on the Nasdaq.