Recasts with preliminary close of trading

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed lower on Tuesday as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq retreated from record highs after some disappointing corporate earnings, while investors awaited a Federal Reserve policy statement.

A host of Dow components reported earnings, with UnitedHealth UNH.N, Boeing BA.N and Merck MRK.N all trading lower after their quarterly results.

Health insurer UnitedHealth was the biggest drag on the Dow after a disappointing profit forecast, while Boeing declined despite reporting a smaller second-quarter loss.

Merck dipped after the drugmaker reported quarterly results and said it was extending its pause on shipments of HPV vaccine Gardasil to China until at least the end of 2025 due to persistent weakness in demand.

"Earnings have been a bit of a mix. Economic data has been somewhat mixed too, but not enough to move the needle in terms of the Fed," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.

"The next two days, you have Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Amazon - those are big companies, and they will move markets depending on how the earnings are and how the outlooks are."

Earnings from megacaps Meta META.O, Microsoft MSFT.O, Amazon AMZN.O and Apple AAPL.O are due this week and are likely to have a strong influence on market direction due to their large market weightings.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 18.43 points, or 0.29%, to end at 6,371.34 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 74.98 points, or 0.35%, to 21,103.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 193.87 points, or 0.45%, to 44,643.69.

United Parcel Service UPS.N shares plunged as the package delivery company posted earnings and again declined to issue annual revenue and margin forecasts, deepening concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump's continually changing trade policy is weighing on the company.

That dragged the Dow Jones Transport average .DJT down and it suffered its biggest daily percentage decline since late May.

Likewise, Whirlpool WHR.N plummeted after the home appliances maker slashed its annual earnings forecast and dividend, as the appliance maker cited pressure from a pull-forward in imports by rivals ahead of Trump's tariffs.

Procter & Gamble PG.N shares also fell, as the maker of consumer goods such as dish soap and toilet paper forecast annual results below estimates and said it would raise prices on some products to offset the tariff impact.

Nearly 200 S&P 500 components have reported earnings and are posting results 6.4% above expectations, according to LSEG data, compared with an average of 6.3% over the last four quarters.

On the economic front, consumer confidence in July increased more than expected to 97.2. In June, U.S. job openings and hiring, or JOLTS data, had decreased, pointing to a further slowdown in labor market activity.

The JOLTS report was the first in a string of data on the labor market this week, culminating in Friday's government payrolls report.

The Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged at its policy announcement on Wednesday and remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be closely monitored to gauge the timing of any potential rate cuts.

Key negotiations between the U.S. and China completed their second day in Stockholm as the world's two leading economies aim to resolve their trade conflict, with Trump saying he was told by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that he had a very good meeting with Chinese officials.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Additional reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

((charles.mikolajczak@tr.com; @chuckmik.bsky.social))