Stocks open lower on Wall Street as earnings start to flow

Stocks were mostly lower in early trading on Tuesday as investors started digesting company earnings reports that are steadily coming out this week.

The S&P 500 index was down 0.1% as of 9:55 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.1%.

Investors are in the middle of first-quarter earnings season. Roughly 80 members of the S&P 500 will report their results this week, as well as one out of every three members of the Dow. Wall Street will be looking to see if Corporate America is recovering with the rest of the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

On average, analysts expect quarterly profits across the S&P 500 to be up 24% from a year earlier, according to FactSet.

United Airlines fell 5% after reporting a loss that was wider than analysts were expecting, and drugmaker Abbott fell after reporting revenue that fell short of forecasts.

Kansas City Southern jumped 15% after another Canadian railway company offered to buy the railroad for $33.7 billion, far higher than a $25 billion offer made by Canadian Pacific last month.

Apple will be in focus as the company makes its latest product announcements later Tuesday. Analysts are not expecting anything blockbuster out of Apple at this event, except for some major refreshes of the company’s popular iPad.