NEW YORK, Aug 1 — US stocks mostly declined early today as traders took in a series of earnings reports and looked ahead to manufacturing data as they keep track of the world’s biggest economy.

Although the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.2 per cent to 35,621.22, the broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.3 per cent to 4,576.18.

The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.6 per cent to 14,254.90.

Drugmaker Pfizer posted a steep fall in profits on lower Covid-related revenues as it trimmed its full-year sales forecast, and its shares dipped 0.3 per cent.

Ride-hailing company Uber missed estimates but reported encouraging guidance, though this did not stop its shares from slumping 4.9 per cent shortly after trading began.

There were some bright spots, however, with pharmaceutical giant Merck and construction equipment maker Caterpillar seeing results that beat expectations.

Merck shares rose 2.1 per cent while those of Caterpillar picked up 4.1 per cent on Tuesday morning.

"The party line coming into the month is much the same: the stock market looks overbought on a short-term basis and is due for a pullback,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.

"The earnings results since yesterday’s close have been largely better than expected, yet the reactions have been tempered in the case of companies topping estimates and more punishing for companies that have disappointed with guidance,” he added.

Investors are also eyeing a report on US manufacturing activity due later this morning, and will closely watch Friday’s employment data for its potential bearing on central bank policy. — AFP