WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving mostly higher early in the session, stocks have given back ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages have pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the Dow and the S&P 500 sliding into negative territory.
Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Nasdaq is up 125.43 points or 0.6 percent at 20,765.76, the S&P 500 is down 1.13 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 6,267.43 and the Dow is down 250.75 points or 0.6 percent at 44,208.90.
The advance by the Nasdaq comes amid strength in the semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain being posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Earlier in the session, the index reached its best intraday level in a year.
Nvidia (NVDA) has helped lead the sector higher, with the AI darling surging by 4.4 percent to a record intraday high after indicating it will 'soon' resume H20 AI chip sales to China.
'The U.S. government has assured NVIDIA that licenses will be granted, and NVIDIA hopes to start deliveries soon,' the company said in a statement.
On the other hand, gold stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.3 percent.
Pharmaceutical stocks are also seeing considerable weakness, resulting in a 2.1 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index.
Oil service, healthcare and banking stocks have also shown notable moves to the downside, contributing to the pullback by the broader markets.
Earlier in the day, stocks responded positively to a Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of June.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.3 percent in June after inching up by 0.1 percent in May.
The annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to 2.7 percent in June from 2.4 percent in July. Economists had expected the price of growth to rise to 2.6 percent.
The Labor Department also said the core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy prices, edged up by 0.2 percent in June after creeping up by 0.1 percent in May. Core prices were expected to increase by 0.3 percent.
Buying interest has waned over the course of the session, however, with concerns about President Donald Trump's trade wars still hanging over the markets.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.6 percent, although China's Shanghai Composite Index bucked the uptrend and fell by 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are seeing considerable weakness following the inflation data. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 5.4 basis points at 4.481 percent.
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