WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the rally seen to start the week, the major U.S. stock indexes have moved in starkly opposite directions during trading on Tuesday.
While the Dow is extending the strong upward move seen on Monday, the S&P 500 has moved modestly lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq has moved back to the downside.
Currently, the Dow is up 329.48 points or 0.7 percent at 47,698.11, but the S&P 500 is down 5.53 points or 0.1 percent at 6,826.90 and the Nasdaq is down 132.48 points or 0.6 percent at 23,394.70.
The mixed performance on Wall Street comes as traders express some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent volatility.
Stocks rallied on Monday amid optimism about an end to the record-setting U.S. government shutdown, regaining ground following the considerable weakness seen in last week.
However, valuation concerns continue to hang over the markets, as traders had largely shrugged off worries about the economic impact of the shutdown.
The continued advance by the Dow comes amid strong gains by Nike (NKE), Merck (MRK) and Amgen (AMGN).
Meanwhile, a 3.1 percent slump by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) is weighing on the Nasdaq after Softbank sold its entire stake in the chipmaker for more than $5 billion.
Pharmaceutical stocks are seeing significant strength on the day, with the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index surging by 2.4 percent.
A sharp increase by the price of crude oil has also contributed to considerable strength among energy stocks, which are moving higher along with biotechnology and healthcare stocks.
On the other hand, semiconductor stocks have come under pressure, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 2.0 percent.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both up by 1.2 percent.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News