Wall Street closed mixed on Tuesday, with tech stocks weighing down on the markets. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Surveyor JOLTS report for June showed that U.S. job openings had gone down further than expected. Oil prices slid to a seven-week low. Two of the three most widely followed indexes finished in the red, while one finished in the green.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 203.40 points, or 0.5%, to close at 40,743.33. Twenty-one components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory, while nine ended in negative.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 222.78 points, or 1.3%, to close at 17,147.42.
The S&P 500 lost 27.10 points, or 0.5%, to close at 5,436.44. Seven of the 11 broad sectors of the benchmark index closed in the green. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE), the Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) advanced 1.6%, 1.2% and 0.7%, respectively, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) declined 2.5%.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) increased 6.6% to 17.69. A total of 11.3 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 11.2 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 1.54-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, declining issues led advancers by a 1.16-to-1 ratio.
Tech Slide Continues Before Big Tech Earnings
As markets geared up to report big tech earnings after the bell on Tuesday, the tech sector bore the brunt of stock rotation in the markets yet again. Big tech became the biggest drag on the markets on Tuesday and led most of the losses made on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The Dow Jones index resisted this trend and managed to come out with gains in the session.
A lot of investors seem to be looking at artificial intelligence (AI) now and pondering how to make money on it. AI is supposed to do well, sure, but these stocks are heavily-priced. As a result, there has been a movement toward small-cap stocks in the recent past. The small-cap-focused Russell 2000 index gained 0.4% on Tuesday.
Consequently, shares of NVIDIA Corporation NVDA and QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM fell 7% and 6.6%, respectively. NVIDIA currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Oil Prices Continue to Fall on Developments in the Middle East
On Tuesday, oil prices dropped about 1% to settle at a seven-week low as investors continued to worry about low demand from China. Talks of a possible ceasefire deal in Gaza are also bringing down crude prices. Consequently, Brent crude fell $1.15, or 1.4%, to settle at $78.63/barrel, while WTI crude declined $1.08, or 1.4%, to settle at $74.73/barrel.
Economic Data
Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings fell 46,000 to 8.18 million by the last day of June, according to its JOLTS report. Data for May was revised higher to show 8.23 million vacancies against the previously reported 8.14 million.
Case-Shiller Home Prices Composite 10 for May came in at a 1% increase month over month. In April, it had gone up 1.4%. Case-Shiller Home Prices Composite 20 for May also came in at a 1% increase month over month.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose to 100.3 in July from a downwardly revised 97.8 in June.
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