It was the tale of two earnings seasons on Tuesday and Wall Street was stuck in the middle. 

While better-than-expected earnings from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Get Report pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to close out the day with another record, disappointment over Netflix (NFLX) - Get Report pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq into the red. 

The S&P 500 was down 0.14%, and the Nasdaq slid 0.4%. The Dow added 0.14% to settle at 18,559, a record close. 

Around one-tenth of S&P 500 companies have reported so far this season in what is expected to be another three-month period of shrinking earnings. The blended earnings estimate is expected to decline 4.3%, a slower decline than 5% in the first quarter.

Netflix (NFLX) - Get Report dominated headlines after falling short of analysts' estimates for subscriber numbers, a closely watched metric. The streaming service added 1.7 million international subscribers in its recent quarter, below its own forecast of 2.5 million. Earnings came in above estimates, though. 

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Get Report  , meanwhile, was one of the best performers on the Dow after topping estimates in its second quarter and raising its full-year forecasts. A new line of pharmaceutical products helped to boost growth, overshadowing a slide in sales in its consumer health business. 

A rebound in bond-trading activity helped Goldman Sachs (GS) - Get Reportsurpass Wall Street earnings expectations. Finance companies with investment businesses like Goldman have benefited from second-quarter rallies in deal-making and initial public offerings during the second quarter.

Crude oil also pressured markets Tuesday ahead of a weekly reading on inventories from the American Petroleum Institute out after the bell and an official read from the Energy Information Administration mid-morning Wednesday. Ballooning global supplies and production have pummeled crude prices since last year.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed down 1.3% at $44.65 a barrel on Tuesday afternoon.

"The price of oil has come down on over-supply fears from OPEC producers, despite improving economic data from the U.S. and China," Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial, wrote in a note. "The price movement has challenged the lower end of our trading range under $47. However, prices have not slipped to levels that would suggest a renewed downward trend is about to unfold."

Monsanto (MON) rebuffed a sweetened offer from Bayer (BAYRY) - Get Report on Tuesday, though said it was open to further discussions with the chemical company and others interested in M&A talk. Bayer had raised its offer to $125 a share from $122 a share last Thursday in an all-cash bid.

Housing starts in June climbed, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday, driven by a high level of demand and tight inventory. Starts for newly constructed homes rose 4.8% last month to an adjusted annual pace of 1.19 million. Economists had expected a pace of 1.17 million. May's numbers were revised down to 1.14 million from 1.16 million. Housing permits increased 1.5% to 1.15 million.

"The overall tone of this report was encouraging, pointing to further upside momentum in U.S. housing market activity," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief U.S. macro strategist at TD Securities. "The buoyancy in both construction activity and building intentions speaks to the renewed level of confidence among U.S. homebuilders about the outlook for this sector, and we continue to expect the recovery in this segment of the US economy to remain on track in the coming months."