Goldman Sachs drags Dow lower; Netflix rally buoys Nasdaq

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major stock indexes were mixed on Tuesday, as Netflix's rally kept the Nasdaq Composite in the black while Goldman Sachs weighed on the Dow, with earnings taking investors' focus.

Stocks' reaction to the collapse in the U.S. Senate of a key healthcare bill was muted. Analysts said the expectation for business-friendly legislation out of Washington is all but priced out of the stock market.

The Dow was dragged lower by a drop in Goldman Sachs , which fell 2.4 percent to $223.77 after it reported a worse slump in bond trading revenue than many analysts had expected and posted the weakest commodities results in its history as a public company.

 

Netflix rose 14.1 percent to $184.43 a day after it crushed Wall Street forecasts by reporting 5.2 million new streaming customers in the second quarter.

"Earnings and guidance will move the market more than news out of D.C.. Goldman is more important to the market today, as is Netflix, and that will be the case for the next couple of weeks," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.

Despite the muted reaction from stocks, news of the healthcare bill's collapse sent the U.S. dollar to a 10-month low against a basket of major currencies <.DXY>.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> fell 57.74 points, or 0.27 percent, to 21,571.98, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 0.29 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,459.43 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 24.66 points, or 0.39 percent, to 6,339.09.

The Nasdaq was on track to post its eighth consecutive session of gains, which would be longest streak since its a 10-day string in February 2015.

Other widely held stocks were active after posting results. Harley-Davidson fell 5.8 percent to $49.00 after the motorcycle maker cut its 2017 shipments forecast.

Analysts estimate an 8.5 percent rise in second-quarter earnings and 4.7 percent increase in revenue for S&P 500 companies from a year earlier.

This follows a robust first quarter when U.S. companies posted the fastest rate of growth in earnings since 2011, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Chipotle Mexican Grill was down 5.7 percent after it closed a restaurant in Virginia due to a suspected norovirus outbreak among some diners.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.25-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.31-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Nick Zieminski)