: Stocks open lower after back-to-back gains as investors brace for tech earnings

U.S. stocks opened lower Tuesday, pulling back after strong back-to-back gains led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite. Investors were weighing results from corporate heavyweights, including General Electric GE and Johnson & Johnson JNJ , while Microsoft Corp. MSFT was set to kick off earnings for megacap tech companies after the bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA was down 157 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 SPX shed 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP declined 0.6%.

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