Tuesday's Stock Market Close: Brexit, Corporate Earnings Send Stocks Lower

Stocks closed lower Tuesday on corporate earnings and worries over Brexit.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 39 points lower at 26,788 while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 58 points to 8,104 ad the S&P 500 lost 10 points to 2,995.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 2.8 billion shares with 1,708 issues advancing and 1,218 declining. New highs were set by 172 issues while 28 issues established new lows.

Leading the most actives were Snap (SNAP), Bank of America (BAC) and General Electric (GE).

McDonald’s (MCD) dropped 5% after reporting third-quarter earnings fell short of estimates, largely due to a struggle to lure U.S. customers away from the competition. McDonald’s reported net profits of $1.6 billion or $2.11 per share, virtually unchanged from year ago results of $1.6 billion or $2.10 a share. Net sales were up 1% at $5.4 billion. Globally, sales were up 5.9%.

UBS (UBS) reported third quarter earnings of $1.3 billion or 28 cents per share, compared with $1.25 billion or 33 cents a share in the year ago quarter. UBS said future profits likely will be negatively impacted by further monetary easing but diversification should help mitigate the decline.

Biogen surged 29% after it announced it would seek regulatory approval for an Alzheimer’s drug. It reported third quarter income of $1.5 billion or $8.39 a share compared with $1.4 billion or $7.15 a share in the third quarter of 2018.

The British House of Commons rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s three-day timetable for pushing his Brexit agreement through the House of Commons, sending Johnson back to the European Union to discuss the next step.

Johnson said he was disappointed lawmakers had voted for a delay of the Oct. 31 deadline for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. Members of Parliament initially approved the agreement in a second reading 329-299, but then rejected the timetable for final approval 322-308, putting the measure into limbo.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed up 0.23% while China’s Shanghai Composite finished 0.5% higher and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was closed for a holiday. Australia’s S&P/ASX added 0.3%.

In Europe, the London FTSE closed up 0.68% while the German DAX was up 0.05% and the French CAC added 0.17%. The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.14%.

The British pound was off 0.49% at $1.2897 while the euro was off 0.16% at $1.1132. The U.S. dollar index was up 0.15%.

Oil futures were mixed. Crude oil was trading 1.69% higher at $54.21 while Brent crude dipped 0.13% to $59.62. Gold futures added 0.21% to $1,491.20 an ounce while silver dipped 0.35% to $17.53 an ounce.

On the bond market, the 10-year U.S. Treasury note gained 3/32 for a drop in yield to 1.768% while the 30-year note added 7/32 for a drop in yield to 2.26%.