WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving modestly lower early in the session, stocks have seen some further downside over the course of morning trading on Tuesday. The S&P 500 is moving lower for the third straight session after ending last Thursday's trading at a record closing high.
Currently, the major averages remain stuck in negative territory. The Dow is down 79.86 points or 0.3 percent at 26,647.68, the Nasdaq is down 50.39 points or 0.6 percent at 7,955.30 and the S&P 500 is down 10.60 points or 0.4 percent at 2,934.75.
The weakness on Wall Street partly reflects a negative reaction to a Conference Board report showing a substantial deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of June.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index tumbled to 121.5 in June from a downwardly revised 131.3 in May. Economists had expected the index to dip to 132.0 from the 134.1 originally reported for the previous month.
With the much steeper than expected drop, the consumer confidence index slumped to its lowest level since hitting 120.6 in September of 2017.
'The escalation in trade and tariff tensions earlier this month appears to have shaken consumers' confidence,' said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at the Conference Board.
She added, 'Although the Index remains at a high level, continued uncertainty could result in further volatility in the Index and, at some point, could even begin to diminish consumers' confidence in the expansion.'
A separate report from the Commerce Department also unexpectedly showed a steep drop in new home sales in the U.S. in the month of May.
The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 7.8 percent to an annual rate of 626,000 in May after tumbling by 3.7 percent to a revised rate of 679,000 in April.
Economists had expected new home sales to climb by 1 percent to a rate of 680,000 from the 673,000 originally reported for the previous month.
Trading activity remains somewhat subdued, however, as traders ahead to a highly anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese Xi Jinping later this week.
Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan in an effort to kick start stalled trade negotiations between the world's two largest economies.
The outcome of the meeting could have a significant impact on traders' perception of the likelihood the U.S. and China eventually reaching a long-term trade agreement.
Later today, trading may be impact by reaction to remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who is due to speak at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York.
Traders are likely to keep a close eye on Powell's remarks for any clues about the timing of the interest rate cut telegraphed by the Fed after its last meeting.
Gold stocks have shown a substantial pullback over the course of the morning after seeing early strength, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index tumbled by 1.9 percent after reaching its best intraday level in well over a year.
The downturn by gold stocks comes despite a continued rally by the price of the precious metal, as gold for August delivery is soaring $17.40 to $1,435.60 an ounce.
Software and natural gas stocks have also come under pressure over the course of the morning, while significant strength has emerged among tobacco stocks.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have once again turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is just below the unchanged line and the German DAX Index is down by 0.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the upward move seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.1 basis points at 1.990 percent.
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