By Anna Isaac

U.S. stocks hovered around the flatline on Tuesday as investors digested the latest flurry of third-quarter earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 16 points, or less than 0.1%, in mid-morning trading. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both up less than 0.1%.

Biogen shares surged 35% after the pharmaceutical company said it would seek regulatory approval for a drug that treats Alzheimer's disease. Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 6.3% after the drugmaker reported favorable results from a trial for a cancer treatment.

Meanwhile, shares of consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble gained 2.5% and motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson climbed 5.1% after both companies reported better-than-expected earnings.

Among the day's losers, Hasbro tumbled 15% after the toy-maker reported weaker-than-expected revenue. Travelers, a member of the Dow, dropped 7.3% after the insurer added to its reserves due to an increase in claims payments for lawsuits and jury awards. McDonald's slumped 3% after it missed expectations on profits.

Later Tuesday, investors will get results from more companies, including tariff-hit Whirlpool and social-media company Snap. Overall market moves have been muted as of late even with the corporate earnings season well underway, keeping major indexes in a tight trading range.

The S&P 500 is up just 1.1% in October, while the Dow industrials are down 0.4%. Both indexes are within 2% of their all-time highs reached in July.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 inched up less than 0.1% as Brexit uncertainty weighed on investor appetite ahead of another day of voting by U.K. lawmakers on the terms of the nation's exit from the European Union.

"Investors want to keep the status quo unless proven otherwise," said Geoffrey Yu, head of the U.K. investment office at USB Wealth Management. "They have learned with trade talks and Brexit, if you try and position too aggressively for the downside, you might just get smacked in the face."

The British pound fell 0.3% against the dollar. Analysts expect the pound to face further volatility in the days ahead.

China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5% after President Trump said Monday that a trade deal between the U.S. and China "is coming along very well," leading to speculation that the two nations may reach a tariff agreement in the coming months.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield slipped to 1.776% from 1.794% on Monday. Bond prices rise as yields fall.

In commodities, U.S. crude futures gained 1.1% to $54.11 a barrel. Gold futures were little changed.

Akane Otani contributed to this article

Write to Anna Isaac at anna.isaac@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 22, 2019 10:51 ET (14:51 GMT)

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