Investing.com - U.S. stocks traded lower Tuesday as retail sales numbers missed estimates and euro zone officials signaled Greece has not qualified for a second bail out.
Near the close of U.S. trade, the Dow gave back 0.01%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.43% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.07%.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail sales climbed less than expected in January, in addition to revising December’s figure to flat from a 0.1% gain.
However, core retail sales in the U.S. climbed to 0.7%, beating expectations for a 0.6% increase.
In Greek news, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker, chairman of the euro finance panel, stated he has yet to obtain assurances from Greek lawmakers about austerity measures required to qualify for the EUR103billion bailout.
This resulted in European finance ministers cancelling the scheduled meeting tomorrow to discuss if Greece has met its obligations to obtain the bailout.
Earnings season is in full swing with 68% of the 280 companies in the S&P 500 reporting since January 9 beating estimates.
Apple continued its month long rally adding 0.3% after reporting doubled quarterly profit on January 24.
Yahoo gave back 5.8% due to snags in the Alibaba talks.
Masco fell 13% after reporting a fourth quarter loss greater than estimates.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber dropped 4.7% after reporting fourth quarter profits less than estimated and a 5% decline in tires sold.
In bullish news, Gap climbed 2.4% when Citigroup raised its recommendation for the clothier to buy from neutral.
After the close of European trade, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 0.13%, France's CAC 40 gave back 0.26%, while Germany's DAX dropped 0.15%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 slipped lower by 0.10%.
Investors are awaiting New Zealand retail sales, the Bank of Japan’s monthly report, Switzerland’s ZEW data on economic expectation, France & Germany’s preliminary GDP and the U.S. Empire State Manufacturing index on Wednesday.