Stock market today: Dow squanders early gains, Nasdaq cuts losses; The cheesecake bursts

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost an early lead Tuesday while other major stock indexes limited their losses as Wall Street faltered at the start of third-quarter earnings season. Despite a tough session for semiconductor stocks like Applied Materials (AMAT), Apple (AAPL) retook a previous buy point, and Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) continued to enrich shareholders in the stock market…