US stocks traded in a tight range on Tuesday after contrasting fourth-quarter results from investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, while China revealed underwhelming annual gross domestic product data.
Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 oscillated between small gains and losses as it reopened after a long weekend, before closing 0.2 per cent lower. Gains in real estate and consumer-focused stocks offset weakness in basic materials and financials. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.1 per cent.
Morgan Stanley was one of the S&P 500’s top performers, rising 5.9 per cent after higher net revenues at its wealth management division overshadowed a 40 per cent year-on-year drop in net income. Rival Goldman Sachs, in contrast, was one of the index’s biggest fallers, dropping 6.4 per cent after its profits sank by two-thirds in the final three months of last year.