Tuesday's Market Open: Disappointing Results From Google Parent Alphabet Help Send Stocks Lower

Stocks drifted were mixed at midday Tuesday following Monday’s record S&P 500 close as investors awaited another spate of corporate earnings and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 4 points to 27,086 while the Nasdaq Composite shed 39 points to 8,286 and the S&P was up nearly 2 points to 3,040. The S&P closed at a record 3,039 Monday, largely on better-than-expected third-quarter corporate earnings.

Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) released its earnings after market close Monday, reporting mixed results with both ad revenue and costs rising along with weak performance from some long-held investments. Alphabet reported a 20% increase in revenue over last year to $40.5 billion but profits fell 23%. Alphabet opened 2% lower.

Anthony Denier, CEO of Webull, said it doesn't appear Alphabet's results were affected by the economy, but rather by increased costs and fines imposed by the European Union.

"The main issue going forward is the growing scrutiny over privacy concerns from regulators both at home and in other countries. Since the after-hours drop in the stock's price hasn't given back all the gains made during the day, I think investors shouldn't be very worried about Google going forward,” Denier said.

The Federal Open Markets Committee opens two days of meetings Tuesday to decide whether to lower interest rates. Investors are expecting the federal funds rate to be trimmed 25 basis points from the current 1.75% to 2% range. The real question is what the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will say about future action Wednesday.

“Powell’s forward guidance will be crucial in shaping the market’s outlook on the FOMC’s policy bias,” said Han Tan, market analyst for FXTM. “Markets are currently pricing in a 90% chance that the fed will deliver its third consecutive 25-basis point cut this week. Should the FOMC not deliver as per market expectations, that should cause some significant repricing and volatility.”

On global issues, President Trump said he expects to sign a phase 1 trade deal with China when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month.

“We are looking probably to be ahead of schedule to sign a very big portion of the China deal, we’ll call it Phase One but it’s a very big portion,” he told reporters Monday, adding that talks are “a little bit ahead of schedule.”

The U.S. Trade Representative is deciding whether to extend tariff suspensions on $34 billion of Chinese goods that expire Dec. 28. Part of the deliberation is efforts to determine what products could be sourced domestically or from other countries.

Global markets were mostly lower

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed off 0.39% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.47% and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.87%. Australia’s S&P/ASX added 0.07%.

London’s FTSE 100 closed off 0.53, while the German DAX was flat, up just 0.01% and the French CAC 40 added 0.11%. Stoxx Europe 600 was off 0.24%

The British pound was up 0.33% at $1.2902 while the euro added 0.15% at $1.119. The dollar index was off 0.09%.

Oil futures were mixed. Crude oil was off 0.19% at $55.63 a barrel and Brent crude added 0.1% to $61.31. Gold and silver futures were lower.