Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

U.S. STOCKS FLOP, YIELDS FALL, AHEAD OF THE FED

Wall Street ended lower on Tuesday as traders focused on quarterly earnings and trade talks between the United States and China, and before the Federal Reserve on Wednesday may give fresh clues on when it is likely to continue cutting interest rates.

Quarterly results from Dow .DJI components UnitedHealth Group UNH.N and Boeing BA.N were not well received by investors, with UnitedHealth ending down more than 7%, and Boeing losing more than 4%.

Stocks also dipped after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he had told Chinese officials that, given U.S. secondary tariff legislation on sanctioned Russian oil, China could face high tariffs if Beijing continued with its Russian oil purchases.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Bessent who told him that he had a very good meeting with Chinese trade negotiators in Sweden as officials agreed to seek an extension of their 90-day tariff truce.

The U.S. central bank is expected to keep rates steady on Wednesday with policymakers concerned that Trump’s tariff policies will increase inflation over the coming months.

But a slowing job market could prompt the Fed to resume rate cuts and traders will be watching comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on whether a rate reduction in September is likely.

Data on Tuesday showed a decrease in job openings and hiring in June as well as deterioration in consumers' perceptions of current employment availability. The reports dovetailed with the high number of people receiving unemployment checks.

Fed funds futures traders are pricing in two 25 basis point cuts this year, which are expected in September and December.

In any event, the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC ended a four-day run of record closing highs, while the S&P 500 index .SPX snapped a six-session run of record closing highs.

And finally, U.S. 10-year Treasury futures TYc1 are on track for their biggest daily gain in nearly two months. With this, the benchmark yield is sliding nearly 10 basis points to the low 4.30% area.

Here is a snapshot of where the market stood just shortly after 4 p.m. EDT:

(Karen Brettell, Terence Gabriel)

*****

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

BOFA CLIENTS SWITCH TO SELLING CLICK HERE

BCA STILL SEES RECESSION COMING, BUT COULD TAKE LONGER CLICK HERE
COOLING DEGREE DAYS: JOLTS, CONSUMER CONFIDENCE, CASE-SHILLER, ET AL CLICK HERE

GOING INTO ITS SHELL? CLICK HERE

TRUMP’S AI ACTION PLAN: WHO GETS TO BENEFIT? CLICK HERE

TECH TRADE: A PAUSE OR A PIVOT? CLICK HERE

S&P 500 INDEX STREAK OF RECORD CLOSING HIGHS FACES LOOMING EVENT RISKS CLICK HERE

TIME FOR A BREAK IN EUROPE'S DEFENCE RALLY? CLICK HERE

WHY THE EU/US DEAL DOESN'T ADD UP - RBC CLICK HERE

TARIFFS MAY DRIVE US LUXURY SHOPPERS ABROAD - UBS CLICK HERE

MEGA CAPS AREN'T POWERING THE 'MEGA' TRADE CLICK HERE

EARNINGS DECENT, IN AGGREGATE, STOXX UP CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: LOTS OF EARNINGS CLICK HERE

MORNING BID: REMEMBERING THE DOWNSIDES TO TARIFFS CLICK HERE