WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After recovering from initial weakness to end Monday's session modestly higher, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday.
The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the day in negative territory.
The Dow slid 398.21 points or 0.8 percent to 49,191.99, the Nasdaq edged down 24.03 points or 0.1 percent to 23,709.87 and the S&P 500 dipped 13.53 points or 0.2 percent to 6,963.74.
The Dow pulled back off the record closing high set on Monday amid a slump by shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), with the financial giant tumbling by 4.2 percent.
JPMorgan came pressure after reporting fourth quarter profits that decreased year-over-year, although its adjusted earnings exceeded analyst estimates.
The choppy trading by the broader markets may reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook amid rising geopolitical tensions around the world and a flurry of proposals by President Donald Trump.
Trump has recently called for a one-year cap on credit card rates at 10 percent and has also said defense companies should not be permitted to issue dividends or stock buybacks and that large institutional investors should be banned from buying single-family homes.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of December.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.3 percent in December, matching economist expectations.
Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.2 percent in December. Economists had expected core prices to rise by 0.3 percent.
The report also said the annual rate of growth by consumer prices came in at 2.7 percent in December, unchanged from November and in line with estimates.
The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices was also unchanged from the previous month at 2.6 percent, while economists had expected an uptick to 2.7 percent.
Sector News
Airline stocks showed a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.0 percent.
Notable weakness was also visible among software stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index.
Banking stocks also saw notable weakness, while energy stocks turned in a strong performance amid a spike by the price of crude oil. Networking and steel stocks also saw some strength on the day.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 3.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day narrowly mixed. While the German DAX Index crept up by 0.1, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved back to the upside following the consumer price inflation data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 1.6 basis points to 4.171 percent.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
