Equities edged down Tuesday as the market gave back some of Monday's rally amid mixed earnings news. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq both eased 0.1 percent and the S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent. Bond yields, the dollar and oil prices all dropped.

Equities were mostly higher through the day but sagged into the close amid caution as earnings season heats up. Investors are watching to see whether stocks lifted by artificial intelligence hopes will show good results. Companies reporting after the close Tuesday include Alphabet and Tesla plus Chubb, Capital One, Visa and Texas Instruments, among others.

Small cap shares outperformed again to continue last week's trend. Among sectors, best were consumer discretionary, financials and materials while lagging were industrials, communications, consumer staples, utilities and energy. UPS, Nucor and NXP Semiconductors were among the day's featured losers after disappointing quarterly results. On the positive side, Lockheed, Sherwin Williams and Spotify rallied after positive results.

Flat to lower market interest rates provided support after surprisingly soft existing home sales figures. A downside miss on the Richmond Fed manufacturing report added to the view that rates are headed lower.

Market Reflections track market reaction to the trading day's major events. Economic data, policymaker speeches, and company news are featured in this report as well as key indexes and financial instruments.

Understanding why markets respond as they do is fundamental for an investor. Market Reflections help explain how the day's events, news, and data impact the outlook for the economy and for market prices.