By Mark DeCambre and Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch

Dow's win streak may end at seven sessions of gains

U.S. stocks turned modestly lower on Tuesday, after switching between small gains and losses throughout the early part of the trading session.

The seesawing action in stocks comes as skittish investors await a batch of corporate earnings and economic reports to gauge the health of the U.S. economy amid a global economic slowdown.

The Dow is attempting to string together eight consecutive days of gains, while the S&P 500 is eyeing a five-day run-up, as is the Nasdaq Composite.

"I think we are just kind of treading water here, right now," Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, told MarketWatch. "We've had a pretty good run-up over the past couple of weeks and I think...people are taking a wait-and-see approach here to see how the numbers turn out," he said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 21 points, or 0.1%, to 17,110. The Dow saw gains in UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), up 2.3%, but a slide in Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) and United Technologies Corp. (UTX), both about off 1.3%, weighed on the blue-chips gauge.

The S&P 500 was off 5 points, or 0.3%, to 2,012, dragged down by industrials and financial stocks. Six of the S&P 500's 10 sectors were advancing, led by positive moves in industrials and financials.

Meanwhile, gains in the Nasdaq Composite Index were petering with the index trading 11 points, or 0.2% lower, at 4,827.

Earlier, news of China's exports and imports falling in September (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-exports-imports-fall-in-september-2015-10-13) helped dragged stocks lower, amid fears about the extent of the struggles of the world's No. 2 economy. The weak Chinese trade reading "led Asia to close in the red," with Europe and U.S. futures also lower, said Nour Al-Hammoury, chief market strategist at ADS Securities, in a note early Tuesday.

"I don't think investors really know the direction of the economy," said Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer at Voya Investment Management, which manages about $210 billion in assets. Zemsky said he has been skittish about the market after a weaker-than-expected September employment report and is looking out for more employment data and corporate earnings for guidance. "Earnings might give us a clearer view of the market one way or the other," he said.

CMC Markets's Cieszynski warned that more choppiness could be ahead fueled by market uncertainty about the timing of the first interest-rate hike in nearly a decade.

"Fed speculation may also impact markets with the next big decision just over two weeks away now," Cieszynski said, referring to the Fed policy-making committee's two-day meeting beginning Oct. 27, when Fed officials will have another opportunity to consider raising benchmark interest rates.

On Monday, the Dow closed higher for a seventh day in a row for its longest winning streak of 2015 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-set-for-7th-day-of-gains-as-asian-stocks-soar-2015-10-12), while the S&P 500 finished up 0.1%, as investors have been heartened by the prospect of ultraloose monetary policy for longer.

In corporate action, shares of Molson Coors Brewing Co. (TAP) soared nearly 10% as a proposed $104 billion mega beer-industry deal between (http://www.wsj.com/articles/sabmiller-ab-inbev-agree-on-deal-in-principle-1444717547?cb=logged0.8621699016075581) Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI.BT)(ABI.BT) and SABMiller (SAB.JO) (SAB.JO) moved closer to fruition.

Movers & shakers: Shares of Johnson & Johnson(JNJ)turned 0.7% lower even as the company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.49 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/johnson-johnson-beats-earnings-expectations-raises-outlook-2015-10-13), above the FactSet consensus of $1.43, while also raising its outlook.

Earnings:

Intel Corp.(INTC), CSX Corp.(CSX) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.(JPM) are among the companies slated to post quarterly results after the market's close.

Other markets:Most Asian markets dropped (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-shares-weaker-after-china-export-data-signals-slowdown-2015-10-13) after the soft Chinese trade data, though the Shanghai Composite ended slightly higher. Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-veer-toward-lowest-close-in-almost-two-weeks-2015-10-13) was trading more than 1% lower as the closely watched ZEW survey showed a drop in German economic sentiment.

Gold futures edged up, while oil futures turned higher and a key dollar index was little changed.

The U.S. economy: St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said in a speech early Tuesday that the Fed should gradually raise interest rates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-bullard-calls-for-gradually-edging-rates-higher-2015-10-13). He will be a voting member of the Fed's policy-making body in 2016.

A reading on small business optimism was little changed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/small-businesses-still-not-very-optimistic-nfib-says-2015-10-13) in September, edged up 0.2 points to 96.1. That is still below the 42-year average of 98. There are no top-tier U.S. economic releases scheduled for Tuesday.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 13, 2015 13:27 ET (17:27 GMT)

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