Wall Street hits record but Facebook weighs

Strong earnings and positive consumer data modestly lifted the Dow and S&P 500 Tuesday to record closing highs. But trading took a defensive tone with utilities, real estate and healthcare stocks leading the rally.

Systematic Ventures CEO Max Wolff says the spotlight on earnings has obscured inflation and labor issues that he thinks will resurface once reporting season ends.

“I think we're still going to see trepidation flood through, and I think we'll see more downdrafts, but the market still wants to power up.”

The Dow inched up just 15 points. The S&P added two-tenths of a percent. Facebook’s drop capped the Nasdaq’s gain at less than a tenth of a percent. The company warned that Apple’s new privacy changes would weigh on its digital business.

UPS shares’ nearly 7% surge made it the S&P’s top gainer. Strong e-commerce demand helped drive quarterly earnings and revenue past Wall Street’s estimates. The results also lifted shares of rival FedEx.

After the bell, shares of Alphabet declined even though quarterly revenue at Google’s parent rose and beat expectations. That’s a positive sign that its advertising business is overcoming new limits on tracking mobile users.

Microsoft shares rose. Soaring demand for the software giant’s cloud services from businesses adopting hybrid work models helped power revenue past analysts’ targets.

And shares of Twitter rose even though the social networking site missed expectations for user growth.