Tech stocks slide with new earnings reports coming into focus

• The Nasdaq Composite slipped from record-highs Tuesday.
• The S&P 500 was close to a record and the Dow industrials advanced.
• Tesla shares were under pressure and Microsoft was set to report after the bell.

Tech stocks pulled back Tuesday as investors prepared for the next round of quarterly earnings reports, leaving the US stock market fighting to stay close to record highs.

The Nasdaq Composite was slightly lower after closing at a record high on Monday and the S&P 500 was edged up after also closing at a new record high Monday. Parcel delivery company UPS was among the those that turned in stronger-than-expected results for its first quarter.

But from the tech front, Tesla shares dropped following the release of the electric car maker first-quarter earnings report. The shares came under pressure from the lack of annual vehicle-delivery guidance. Its financial results met expectations.

Here's where US indexes stood at 4 p.m. on Tuesday:

• S&P 500: 4,186.57, down 0.03%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,982.82, up 0.01% (1.25points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 14,090.22, down 0.34%

Microsoft and Google's parent Alphabet will be in focus after the bell Tuesday with quarterly results from the tech heavyweights.

Overall for earnings, Wall Street so far is seeing "pretty good growth year over year but that's against an easy base to beat, so to speak," Shawn Cruz, senior market strategist at TD Ameritrade, told Insider.

"What we're hearing from some of these companies on the guidance front is that they're actually not expecting margin growth, especially gross margin growth, to be very robust this year even though we're expected to have a pretty strong recovery in the economy as a whole and I think that is really causing some concerns for investors," he said.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will conclude its meeting with a policy statement.

Around the markets, UBS took a $744 million hit from the collapse of Archegos in the first quarter.

HSBC posted a 79% jump in profit for the first quarter.

Gold fell 0.2% to $1,775 per ounce. Long-dated US treasury yields rose, with the 10-year yield at 1.622%.

Oil prices rose. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2% to $63.22 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, picked up 0.4% to $66.73 per barrel.

Bitcoin rose to $54,806.