By Wallace Witkowski and Anora Mahmudova, MarketWatch

Whirlpool tanks after earnings miss Wall Street's estimates

U.S. stocks declined, but traded off their lows of the session Tuesday, as investors grappled with a wave of lackluster corporate earnings and waning confidence, against a backdrop of the U.S. presidential election and growing expectation of a rate increase by the Federal Reserve.

The confidence of Americans (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumer-confidence-droops-ahead-of-presidential-election-2016-10-25)in the U.S. economy fell in October to a three-month low just ahead of the race for the White House between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and GOP nominee Donald Trump, with more consumers saying jobs are harder to find.

The main benchmarks were giving up most of the previous session's gains. The S&P 500 declined by 5 points, or 0.3%, to 2,144, after being down nearly 10 points earlier. Nine of the 11 main sectors were trading lower. Consumer discretionary and materials led the decliners, down 1.1%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 45 points, or 0.3%, to 18,177, as shares of 3M Co.(MMM) weighing on blue-chips with a 3% decline. Earlier, the average had been down as many as 71 points.

3M reported earnings that beat Wall Street expectations but the St. Paul, Minn.-based company posted sales that were flat relative to the prior year and reduced the top end of its yearly earnings forecast (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/3m-cuts-earnings-outlook-amid-flat-sales-2016-10-25-84852553).

The Nasdaq Composite Index was off by 19 points, or 0.4%, at 5,291, coming off a 30-point deficit earlier in the session.

Tuesday's retreat in stocks was to be expected as Monday's gains were primarily the result of merger enthusiasm (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/merger-monday-sets-us-stocks-on-track-for-gains-2016-10-24), said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist at Voya Financial.

"Deals tend to boost investor confidence especially after a dry spell," Cavanaugh said. "So, we were just setting ourselves up for a bit of a letdown."

Market participants have been wrestling with third-quarter earnings that have outperformed lowered expectations, but a number of companies have cut their annual outlooks, which has raised questions about future earnings.

Cavanaugh said the market is still focused on earnings and with about 30% of the S&P 500 having reported, chances are good that third-quarter earnings could end more than a year of quarterly earnings declines.

Investors are eager to find out the results from two of the tech giants this week, with Apple reporting after the closing bell on Tuesday.

Analysts expect to see Apple Inc.(AAPL) report earnings at the high-end of its fourth-quarter forecast (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-sales-likely-to-fall-again-despite-samsung-woes-2016-10-24), aided by the iPhone 7 launch and new customers switching from Android after Samsung Electronics' exploding Note 7 troubles. However, analysts are also projecting the third-straight quarterly decline in iPhone unit sales.

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)(GOOGL), Google's parent company, is set to report Thursday.

Economic data:Consumer confidence dropped to 98.6 this month from 103.5 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumer-confidence-droops-ahead-of-presidential-election-2016-10-25) in September, a number that was cut, the privately run Conference Board said Tuesday. The decline was well below Wall Street expectations.

Separately, U.S. home prices rose in August, and were up 5.1% year-over-year as tight inventories continued to drive prices higher, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-City index.

Corporates: Shares in Whirlpool(WHR) dropped 12% after the appliance maker reported third-quarter profit and sales that missed expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whirlpool-slumps-43-premarket-after-profit-miss-2016-10-25), and issued a downbeat outlook.

Merck & Co. shares (MRK) rose 1.7% after the drugmaker's third-quarter earnings and sales came in above expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/merck-shares-climb-3-after-third-quarter-earnings-beat-2016-10-25).

Chemicals maker DuPont& Co. (DD) shares fell 1% despite the company raising its yearly profit forecast and better-than-expected quarterly earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dupont-lifts-yearly-profit-view-as-sales-increase-2016-10-25). The company is working on its merger with Dow Chemical Co. (DOW).

Watch:Do lawsuits drive innovation in chemical industry?

Procter & Gamble Co.(PG) gained 4.1% after the consumer goods company reported earnings ahead of forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/procter-gamble-shares-rise-after-earnings-beat-2016-10-25).

Lockheed Martin Corp.(LMT) shares jumped 7.1% after the aerospace company posted higher-than-expected revenue (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/lockheed-martin-lifts-outlook-as-revenue-beats-2016-10-25)and hiked its dividend.

Baker Hughes Inc.(BHI) shares rallied 4.8% after the oil-field services company reported a narrower-than-expected loss (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/baker-hughes-shares-soar-loss-smaller-than-feared-2016-10-25).

General Motors Co. (GM) shares fell 3.7% even as auto giant's quarterly profit doubled (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/general-motors-earnings-more-than-double-2016-10-25-74853840). GM also posted higher revenue on strong U.S. truck sales. But it signaled continued weakness in Europe because of the fallout from the U.K.'s pending exit from the European Union, or Brexit.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) rallied 3.5% despite reporting profit and revenue (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/freeport-mcmoran-misses-earnings-and-revenue-expectations-2016-10-25) that missed analysts' expectations on Tuesday.

Under Armour Inc.'s(UA) shares plunged 13% after the company issued a profit warning (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/under-armours-stock-rocked-after-downbeat-outlook-2016-10-25). The decline came even as the athletic gear maker reported a 28% rise in third-quarter profit and an expansion of its market share, but those results were overshadowed by its warning.

Nielsen Holdings PLC(NLSN) shares dropped more than 14% after the media-ratings company reported a slip in profit because of higher restructuring charges (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nielsen-profit-falls-on-restructuring-costs-2016-10-25).

Other markets: Oil futures dropped more than 1% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-drift-south-as-upcoming-opec-meeting-starts-to-look-like-a-bust-2016-10-25) while gold futures (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-steadies-as-dollars-advance-pauses-at-8-month-high-2016-10-25)settled up 0.8% at $1,273.60 an ounce. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index tilted lower after an earlier gain (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-holds-strength-in-wake-of-upbeat-session-for-us-stocks-2016-10-25).

European stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-gain-as-german-business-mood-rises-to-25-year-high-2016-10-25) pared earlier gains and were mostly lower and Asian shares (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-mixed-after-report-of-korean-economic-slowdown-2016-10-24) were mixed following data that pointed to a slowdown for South Korea's economy.

--Carla Mozee in London contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2016 14:42 ET (18:42 GMT)