NEW YORK, April 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday, giving up earlier gains, as investors were digesting a string of corporate earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average erased 424.56 points, or 1.74 percent, to 24,024.13. The S&P 500 lost 35.73 points, or 1.34 percent, to 2,634.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 121.25 points, or 1.70 percent, to 7,007.35.
U.S. multinational Caterpillar reported earnings and revenue that beat market expectations. The company's stock, however, slumped 6.2 percent in market closing on Tuesday, after its CFO Bradley Halverson said during a conference call that the company's outlook assumed that the first quarter would be "the high watermark for the year."
Shares of 3M dropped 6.79 percent after the company reported better-than-expected earnings but lowered its full-year profit forecast.
The earnings season is so far off to a good start. More than 83 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported through Tuesday have topped earnings estimates, according to FactSet.
Expectations for this earnings season are high. The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter are expected to rise by 20 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase by 7.5 percent.
Meanwhile, traders continued to pay a close attention to the rising Treasury yield. The 10-year Treasury note yield on Tuesday broke above 3 percent, a key psychological level, for the first time since 2014.
Investors have been selling Treasury this month - pushing yields higher - amid expectations of rising inflation.
