U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday in the wake of results from IBM and United Technologies that dampened early optimism over earnings season as investors awaited quarterly profits from tech giants including Apple and Microsoft.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 179.95 points, or 0.99 percent, to 17,920.46, the S&P 500 lost 9.08 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,119.2 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.74 points, or 0.21 percent, to 5,208.12.

The Visual Marketplace Index rose today, ahead of the expectations of Apple’s quarterly earnings report, to finish the day up .57 points, or .21%, to finish the day at 278.12.