(Updates to 10:58 EDT)

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks turned lower on

Tuesday as investors scrutinized a spate of corporate earnings

while crude extended its slide due to easing supply worries and

weakening demand.

The three major U.S. indexes hovered in early trading before

heading lower, with the S&P 500 and the Dow easing back from

Monday's record closing highs.

Financial firms Goldman Sachs ( GS ), Citigroup ( C/PN ) and

Bank of America ( BAC ) all posted better-than-expected profit,

while healthcare companies UnitedHealth ( UNH ) and Johnson &

Johnson ( JNJ ) results underwhelmed investors.

"The stock market had a pretty strong day yesterday, and at

the moment (stocks are) near all-time highs," said Tim Ghriskey,

senior portfolio strategist Ingalls & Snyder in New York. "The

focus here is on earnings ... and, as usual, earnings will be

somewhat mixed."

"This is a waiting period and the market is stuck in neutral

before we see more earnings reports," Ghriskey added.

Energy stocks, pulled lower by sliding crude prices,

suffered the steepest percentage drop.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 141.91 points,

or 0.33%, to 42,923.71, the S&P 500 fell 20.63 points, or

0.35%, to 5,839.44 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 146.31

points, or 0.79%, to 18,357.27.

European stocks edged way from Monday's two-week high,

dragged lower by mining and energy stocks, while investors

scrutinized corporate earnings and kept their focus on the

European Central Bank's rate decision on Thursday.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

fell 3.29 points, or 0.36%, to 854.06.

The STOXX 600 index fell 0.55%, while Europe's

broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 13.20 points, or

0.63%.

Emerging market stocks fell 10.33 points, or

0.89%, to 1,149.73. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

outside Japan closed 0.83% lower 0.83%, at

608.61, while Japan's Nikkei rose 304.75 points, or

0.77%, to 39,910.55.

Oil prices slid to a near two-week low, extending Monday's

losses amid easing supply pressures arising from the conflict in

the Middle East, and growing signs of weakening demand.

"Sliding oil prices are disinflationary and that's a

positive for the broader economy," Ghriskey said. "What you're

seeing now is the speculation that Middle East oil properties

are going to be exempt from attack."

"And falling oil prices does say something about global

demand."

U.S. crude fell 5.11% to $70.05 a barrel and Brent

fell to $73.71 per barrel, down 4.84% on the day.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields edged lower as the bond

market resumed trading following its three-day Columbus Day

weekend.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell

2.8 basis points to 4.045%, from 4.073% late on Friday.

The 30-year bond yield fell 4.2 basis points to

4.3398% from 4.382% late on Friday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in

step with interest rate expectations, rose 0.2 basis points to

3.943%, from 3.941% late on Friday.

The dollar was nominally lower against a basket of world

currencies amid wagers that the Federal Reserve will proceed

with modest rate cuts in the near term.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

fell 0.07% to 103.11, with the euro down 0.06% at

$1.0902.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.37%

to 149.16.

Gold gained traction as the dollar lost some momentum.

Spot gold rose 0.32% to $2,659.48 an ounce. U.S. gold

futures NOT AVAILABLE to $2,647.80 an ounce.