Wall St slips on weak earnings, Trump policies

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

REUTERS - U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday as investors turned risk averse after disappointing earnings from a raft of companies and uncertainty following President Donald Trump's recent decisions.

Enthusiasm over fiscal stimulus under the new administration has been tempered by worries over Trump's isolationist policies such as travel restrictions to the United States, which sparked protests across U.S. cities and criticism from several corporate leaders.

Dour results from UPS, Under Armour and MasterCard added to the downbeat sentiment.

Package delivery company UPS dropped 5.6 percent to $110.46 after posting a quarterly loss and issuing a full-year profit forecast that missed expectations. The stock was the top drag on the S&P.

Under Armour was the biggest percentage loser on the index. The sportswear maker's disappointing sales and forecast also dragged down bigger rival and Dow component Nike by 2.5 percent. Nike weighed the most on the Dow.

"You've got a very busy week for earnings, economic data and central bank meetings," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive officer at 50 Park Investments in Florida.

"So when you add all this political uncertainty, that leads investors to sell stocks first and ask questions later, especially after a historic run."

However, the S&P 500 healthcare sector was up 0.5 percent after Trump called on the pharmaceutical industry to boost their U.S. production and lower prices, and vowed to speed up approval times for new medicines.

Nine of the 11 major S&P indexes were lower, with technology and consumer discretionary stocks weighing the broader index the most.

At 9:39 a.m. ET (1439 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 62.33 points, or 0.31 percent, at 19,908.8.

The S&P 500 was down 5.07 points, or 0.22 percent, at 2,275.83 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 16.07 points, or 0.29 percent, at 5,597.64.

The dollar fell against a basket of six major currencies on Tuesday and was on track for a 2.4 percent fall this month, its worst start to the year since 2006.

Safe-haven gold rose 1.2 percent, the precious metal's biggest one-day gain in more than three weeks.

The Federal Reserve's policy-setting body begins a two-day meeting. The central bank is not expected to raise interest rates, after a move in December, but investors will focus on how policymakers view the economy under a Trump presidency.

Apple, the world's most valuable public company, is scheduled to report after markets close.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,383 to 1,196. On the Nasdaq, 1,426 issues fell and 863 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed four new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 21 new highs and 17 new lows.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)