By NBCNews.com staff and wires
Updated at 10:50 a.m. ET: Stocks were lower Tuesday after strong earnings from Goldman Sachs and as investors eyed testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, looking for clues about steps the central bank could take to stimulate the economy.
Shares of Goldman Sachs rose after the bank reported earnings that beat expectations, the latest financial company to rally on results. Coca-Cola Co, which also topped consensus forecasts, gained.
Bernanke is testifying before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee Tuesday. While recent indications have suggested the Fed won't announce another round of quantitative easing unless economic conditions deteriorate further, the comments will still be closely monitored.
The market is coming off a period of weakness, with Monday's retail sales data the latest sign of slowing growth. Markets are down seven of the past eight sessions.
Johnson & Johnson reported adjusted profit that beat expectations by a penny, but posted lower-than-expected sales and cut its full-year profit forecast.
With 6 percent of S&P components having reported thus far, 65 percent have topped profit expectations, according to the latest Thomson Reuters data.
The Nasdaq was lifted by Yahoo Inc after it named Marissa Mayer, a now-former top executive at Google Inc, as its new chief executive. The company has cycled through three CEOs in a year.
U.S. consumer prices were flat in June, as expected, as the cost of gasoline dropped, offering some relief for cash-strapped Americans and scope for the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy further to help the faltering recovery. Futures were little impacted by the data.
Morgan Stanley cut its 2012 U.S. auto sales projections by about 3 percent and cut its profit outlooks for the sector due to weak sales.
U.S. stocks fell in a volatile session on Monday, with the weak retail sales fueling losses.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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