U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average snapping a three-day winning streak, as Wall Street digested a slew of corporate earnings reports and U.S. housing starts data.
"It's been a take-no-prisoners earnings season," said Maris Ogg, president at Tower Bridge Advisors. "When you think about earnings season, you see the really good numbers right off the bat. ... That hasn't been the case (thus far)."
IBM reported earnings per share that were slightly above estimates on Monday, but its revenues came in far below consensus, pushing the stock down 5.75 percent to $140.64, its lowest levels since October 2010.
"IBM is a reflection of what's going on (with earnings) across the board," said Nick Raich, CEO of The Earnings Scout. "It's not a good start to earnings season."
"IBM is going to weigh on the Dow ... and will keep the market trapped," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.
IBM shares intraday
United Technologies, Travelers and Verizon, also reported quarterly results. Verizon and Travelers both beat Wall Street estimates for earnings and revenue, while United Technologies beat on earnings per share but missed on revenue.
Companies scheduled to report after the bell include Yahoo, Chipotle Mexican Grill and VMWare. Others reporting later this week include Alphabet, Amazon.com and Microsoft.
"I think it will be interesting to see what the big-cap tech names have to say," said Zachary Karabell, head of global strategy at Envestnet.
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range for most of the session after opening firmly lower. The Nasdaq Composite hit a session low of 4,866.6 as it tracked the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB), which closed down 3.16 percent
"The biotech sector is going to continue to be an in-and-out sector because there is a lot of risk there," said J.J. Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade.
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Investors also took in September , which came in well above expectations at 1.206 million.
"The story remains the same in that single family home construction remains muted historically speaking as the current 740,000 level is well below the 30-year average of 1.04 million and this is not adjusted for population growth," Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group, said in a note.
"Multi family starts continue to react to the 4-5 percent annual rent increases, low vacancies and the secular drop in the homeownership rate. With 5 percent(ish) increases in existing home prices, they need to slow down further in order to create better competition to renting," he said.
U.S. equities closed barely higher on Monday after trading in the red for most of the session, as investors weighed Morgan Stanley and Halliburton earnings, as well as a 2.9 percent fall in oil.
U.S. crude settled down 0.74 percent at $45.55 a barrel on Tuesday, while Brent futures rose 15 cents.
"In the energy picture, we've been in a range of $45 to $50 a barrel," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. " If we get support there, that would be very (helpful for stocks)."
In corporate news, Yum Brands announced it would spin off its China business into a separate, publicly traded company.
Amazon.com said it will create over 100,000 holiday season jobs, above last year's 80,000.
Aetna said its proposed takeover of Humana was approved by shareholders of both companies. The deal is expected to close in the second half of next year.
Ferrari is expected to price its IPO as high as $53 per share, according to sources.
Tesla Motors' stock fell more than 9 percent after Consumer Reports said the company's Model S is "worse than average" in terms of reliability.
In Europe, equities closed lower, with the pan-European STOXX 600 shedding about 0.4 percent, while the French CAC 40 fell 0.63 percent.
Asian equities closed mixed, with the Shanghai Composite rising 1.11 percent, while the Hang Seng index fell 0.37 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.42 percent.
Major U.S. Indexes
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 13.43 points, or 0.08 percent, at 17,217.1, led lower by IBM and with United Technologies leading advancers
The ended down 2.89 points, or 0.14 percent, at 2,030.77, with health care leading four sectors lower and telecommunications the greatest advancer.
The Nasdaq closed down 24.5 points, or 0.5 percent, at 4,880.97, as the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) tumbled.
U.S. Treasury yields rose sharply, with 10-year notes yielding 2.07 percent, while two-year notes yielded 0.64 percent.
The dollar declined against a basket of currencies to 94.88, down 0.05 percent. The euro gained about 0.11 percent against the greenback.
Advancers led decliners 9 to 5 at the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 791.80 million and a composite volume of 3.290 billion at the close.
Gold futures settled up $4.70 at $1,177.50 an ounce.
On tap this week:
Tuesday
Earnings: Yahoo, VMWare, iRobot, Cree, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chubb,Discover Financial, Pinnacle Financial, Canadian Pacific Railway
Wednesday
Earnings: Boeing, Coca-Cola, American Express, eBay, Abbott Labs, Biogen, Texas Instruments, Kimberly-Clark, Las Vegas Sands, General Motors, Credit Suisse, Owens Corning, St. Jude Medical, SanDisk, Norsk Hydro, Northern Trust, Angie's List, Manpower Group, SallieMae, Polaris, Morningstar, Raymond James
1:30 p.m.: Fed's Powell on panel on liquidity
Thursday
Earnings: 3M, Caterpillar, McDonald's, Amazon.com, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Daimler, Dow Chemical, Danaher, AT&T, Raytheon, Eli Lilly, Dr Pepper Snapple, Freeport-McMoran, Nasdaq OMX, PulteGroup, Sirius XM Radio, Under Armour, Southwest Air, Juniper Networks, Pandora, Union Pacific, Alaska Air, Dunkin Brands, Capital One, Stryker
8:30 a.m.: Initial claims
9 a.m.: FHFA home prices
9:45 a.m.: Manufacturing PMI
10 a.m.: Existing home sales
Friday
Earnings: Procter and Gamble, American Airlines, Autoliv, Cabot Oil and Gas, State Street, LM Ericsson, Tenneco, Lear, Citizens Financial, VF Corp.
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—CNBC's Peter Schacknow contributed to this report.