Wall St muted as investors pause ahead of big corporate earnings
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Boeing gains after offering new wage deal
Humana climbs after report Cigna resumes merger talks
114 S&P 500 companies to report results this week
Indexes: Dow down 0.21%, S&P 500 down 0.07%, Nasdaq up 0.01%
Updated at 09:45 a.m. ET/1345 GMT
By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal
Oct 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were subdued on Monday as investors took a breather after the previous week's rally, awaiting results from major companies that could influence whether markets would sustain their record highs or decline.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 89.46 points, or 0.21%, to 43,186.45, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 4.31 points, or 0.07%, to 5,860.36 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 3.00 points, or 0.01%, to 18,491.32.
Treasury yields rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rising as high as 4.14%, pressuring rate-sensitive stocks.
The Real Estate .SPLRCR sector lost 0.8% amid broader market declines. Consumer Discretionary .SPLRCD was off 0.7%, weighed by Tesla TSLA.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O, which were down 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.
Of the so-called Magnificent Seven group of stocks, most slipped. However, Nvidia NVDA.O and Alphabet GOOGL.O gained 1.6% and 0.2%, respectively.
Most chip stocks also edged lower, sending the broader Semiconductor index .SOX down 0.2%.
Boeing's BA.N5% jump kept losses on the Dow in check afternews that workers could vote on a new deal to end a costly five-week-long strike.
A broadly positive start to the quarterly earningsseason andupbeat economic data had propelled indexeshigher over the past two weeks. The three major indexes logged a sixth consecutive week of gains on Friday, in their best winning streak so far this year.
"What we're seeing today is a market that is basically taking a bit of a breather and probably consolidating some of those strong gains that we had last week," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist, Spartan Capital Securities.
"The market last week closed at record highs and despite the run up in yields... remains resilient because of the fact that the earnings are coming in better than expected."
Optimism around earnings persisted ahead of the 114 S&P 500 companies that are scheduled to report results this week, including Tesla TSLA.O, Coca-Cola KO.N and Texas Instruments TXN.O. Of the companies that reported as of Friday, 83.1% beatearnings estimates, accordingto data compiled by LSEG.
However, risks such as rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, gains in Treasury yields and some volatility ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election are pressuring equities.
In broader markets, trades expected to perform well if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins in November were catching bids, as polls showed the former U.S. president's chances improving.MKTS/GLOB
"As the election date approaches, even small changes in tight polls could drive seemingly erratic swings in market sentiment," Danske Bank analysts said.
Spirit Airlines SAVE.N skyrocketed 33% after the company reached an agreement to extend a debt refinancing deadline by two months.
Humana HUM.N gained 2.3% after a report said Cigna CI.N had resumed merger talks with the health insurer.
Home sales, flash PMI and durable goods reports are on the data docket through the week, as is the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.
Fed officials Neel Kashkari, Jeffrey Schmid and Mary Daly are scheduled to speak on the day.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.74-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 44 new highs and 12 new lows.
Pre-election market moves https://reut.rs/4f8LQXi
Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai
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