WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the upward move seen over the course of the previous session, stocks gave back some ground during trading on Tuesday. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 pulling back off Monday's record closing highs.
The major averages finished the day off their worst levels but still in negative territory. The Nasdaq slid 153.30 points or 0.7 percent to 22,788.36, the S&P 500 fell 25.69 points or 0.4 percent to 6,714.59 and the Dow dipped 91.99 points or 0.2 percent to 46,602.98.
The pullback on Wall Street may partly have reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which saw the S&P 500 close higher for seven straight sessions.
A slump by shares of Oracle (ORCL) also weighed on the markets, with the tech company tumbled by 2.5 percent after a report from The Information raised questions about the profitability of its artificial intelligence rollout.
Lingering concerns about the economic impact of the ongoing U.S. government shutdown may also have generated some selling pressure, although traders have largely shrugged off the suspension of non-essential government operations in recent sessions.
Lawmakers in Washington continue to struggle to pass a temporary funding bill due in part to Democrats' demands that the legislation include an extension of enhanced Obamacare tax credits.
The shutdown has also led to the indefinite delay of key U.S. economic data, including the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report that was due to be released last Friday.
The lack of data has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates, although the Federal Reserve is still widely expected to cut rates by another quarter point later this month.
Remarks by several Fed officials, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell, this week along with the release of the minutes of the central bank's latest meeting may shed additional light on the outlook for rates.
Sector News
Housing stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 3.0 percent to its lowest closing level in almost two months.
Significant weakness also emerged among semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slumping by 2.1 percent after ending Monday's trading at a record closing high.
Computer hardware, gold and airline stocks also saw considerable weakness, while some strength was visible among utilities stocks.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a lackluster performance on Tuesday, with several markets closed for holidays. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index ended the day just above the unchanged line, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day roughly flat. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line.
In the bond market, treasuries regained ground following the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.5 basis points to 4.127 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading on Wednesday may be impacted by reaction to remarks by several Fed officials as well as the minutes of the of the central bank's latest monetary policy meeting
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