WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After ending Monday's choppy session little changed, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a particularly steep loss, although the Dow ended the day roughly flat.
The Nasdaq ended the day just off its lows of the session, tumbling 314.82 points or 1.5 percent to 21,314.95. The S&P 500 also slid 37.78 points or 0.6 percent to 6,411.37.
Meanwhile, the Dow inched up 10.45 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,922.27 after reaching a record intraday high in early trading.
The slump by the Nasdaq came amid a weakness in the tech sector, with shares of Nvidia (NVDA) plunging by 3.5 percent.
Nvidia told CNBC it is evaluating a 'variety of products' following a Reuters report that the company is developing a new AI chip for China.
On the other hand, the Dow benefitted from a surge by shares of Home Depot (HD), as the home improvement retailer shot up by 3.2 percent.
The strong gain by Home Depot came after the company maintained its full-year guidance despite reporting second quarter results that came in modestly below analyst estimates.
Traders were also looking ahead to some key economic events later in the week, including the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday and the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that gets underway on Thursday.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at the symposium on Friday, with his remarks potentially impacting the outlook for interest rates.
According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, there is an 86.9 percent chance the Fed will lower interest rates by a quarter point at its next monetary policy meeting in September.
Reports on weekly jobless claims, existing home sales and leading economic indicators may also attract some attention in the coming days.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report this morning unexpectedly showing a sharp increase by new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of July.
Sector News
Gold stocks moved sharply lower amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 3.0 percent.
Significant weakness is also visible among software stocks, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index tumbling by 2.0 percent to its lowest closing level in over a month.
Semiconductor, networking and computer hardware stocks also saw considerable weakness, contributing to the steep drop by the Nasdaq.
On the other hand, commercial real estate, housing and transportation stocks turned in strong performances, helping to offset the weakness in the aforementioned sectors.
Other Markets
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 dipped by 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries regained ground after trending lower over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.9 basis points to 4.302 percent.
Looking Ahead
Early activity on Wednesday may be somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to the release of the Fed minutes later in the afternoon.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
