[ad_1]
(Reuters) – Wall Street’s S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes fell on Tuesday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq hit a record high for the third straight session, as investors eyed this week’s Federal Reserve meeting for signs on how it views a restarting economy.
FILE PHOTO: Traders wear masks as they work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., May 27, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File photo
The S&P 1500 airlines index tumbled 7.3%, while cruise operators Carnival Corp and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd fell between 6.4% and 6.6% following their sharp recovery amid recent signs of a pickup in global travel.
Financial, industrial and energy stocks which have surged in recent weeks on hopes of an improved economic outlook dragged on the benchmark S&P 500.
Technology and communication services and consumer discretionary stocks were in positive territory.
The Nasdaq became the first of Wall Street’s main indexes to confirm a new bull market after hitting a low on March 23. The rally in U.S. stocks accelerated last week after strikingly upbeat May jobs data strengthened views the worst of the economic fallout from the pandemic was over.
The benchmark S&P 500, which erased its losses for the year on Monday, is about 5% below its own all-time high.
“It’s a very tepid pullback in equities, a little bit more concentrated in early cyclical stocks that feels like profit taking after their very impressive rallies over the past few weeks,” said Yousef Abbasi, global market strategist at INTL FCStone in New York.
While no major policy announcements are expected when the U.S. central bank wraps up its two-day meeting on Wednesday, investors will be keen to know its remarks on the health of the economy.
The closely-watched U.S. yield curve steepened the most since March as U.S. data improved. Investors will also keep an eye out on whether the Fed will introduce yield curve control measures.
At 12:57 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 213.68 points, or 0.77%, at 27,358.76, the S&P 500 was down 20.58 points, or 0.64%, at 3,211.81. The Nasdaq Composite was up 44.49 points, or 0.45%, at 9,969.23.
U.S. financial market operators, including the New York Stock Exchange, held a moment of silence in honor of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died on May 25 after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 3.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 2.10-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded five new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and no new low.
Reporting by Medha Singh and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Uttaresh.V and Shounak Dasgupta
[ad_2]
Source link