Stocks Ended Slightly Lower, Oil Futures Settled Mixed

U.S. stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday, as another batch of fourth-quarter earnings results came in mostly stronger-than-expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.96 points, or 0.07% to30,937. The S&P 500 was down 5.74 points, or 0.15%, to 3,849.62. The Nasdaq Composite declined 9.93 points, or 0.07%, to 13,626.06.

Oil futures ended on a mixed note on Tuesday, with U.S. benchmark prices down, but global benchmark Brent crude modestly higher, as traders weighed potential risks to supplies, as well as demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery fell by 16 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $52.61 a barrel. March Brent crude contract added 3 cents, or nearly 0.1%, to $55.91 a barrel.

Microsoft Corp. blew away earnings expectations Tuesday as it surpassed $40 billion in sales and $15 billion in profit in a quarter for the first time. Microsoft reported earnings of $15.46 billion, or $2.03 a share, on sales of $43.1 billion, strong growth from the same quarter a year ago.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had administered 23,540,994 doses of COVID-19 vaccines after distributing 44.394,075 million doses as of Tuesday morning. That included both Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines.