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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks drift lower ahead of earning reports

Xinhua, April 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks pared early gains to end lower on Monday, snapping a three-day winning streak, as investors awaited the rollout of quarterly earnings from big companies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 80.61 points, or 0.45 percent, to 17,977.04. The S&P 500 lost 9.63 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,092.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 7.73 points, or 0.15 percent, to 4,988.25.

Earnings season shifts into high gear this week with results from blue chip JPMorgan expected out before Tuesday's opening bell. Other big companies like Wells Fargo, Johnson & Johnson and Intel will also announce their quarterly earnings Tuesday.

According to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research report, the S&P 500's bottom-up EPS (Earnings Per Share) for the first quarter of 2015 has come down 8 percent over the last three months. This quarter marks the first since 2009 in which analysts expect earnings to decline year on year.

Though no major economic data is due Monday, this is still a big week for data in the United States, as March retail sales and the Producer Price Index (PPI) will be released on Tuesday, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is scheduled for Friday.

Overseas, Chinese Shanghai Composite Index surged 2.17 percent to 4,121.72 points on Monday, a new seven-year high. Hong Kong equities continued to soar with the benchmark Hang Seng index rising 2.73 percent to 28,016.34 points, its highest level since January 2008.

In corporate news, shares of Netflix surged 4.42 percent to 474. 68 dollars apiece on Monday, after analyst firm UBS upgraded the video streaming company from "neutral" to "buy" ahead of the company's Wednesday earnings report.

U.S. stocks ended higher last Friday, marking a three-day rally with the Dow topping 18,000 for the first time in April, boosted by General Electric's restructuring plan and a broad-based stock increase around the world. Endite