WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving sharply higher over the past few sessions, stocks are turning in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Tuesday. Despite the choppy trading, the Dow has reached a new record intraday high.
Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Dow is up 332.97 points or 0.6 percent at 52,004.00, the S&P 500 is down 12.24 points or 0.2 percent at 7,542.05 and the Nasdaq is down 94.69 points or 0.4 percent at 26,589.25.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders express some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following the recent strength, which largely offset the sharp pullback seen earlier this month.
Optimism about an end to the monthslong U.S.-Iran has contributed to the recent recovery, but traders may be waiting for a peace deal to be finalized before making more big bets.
Traders may also be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the accompanying statement and new Chair Kevin Warsh's post-meeting comments could impact the outlook for rates.
'Investors will be looking for clues about how Warsh intends to navigate an economy where inflation remains above target, growth is still resilient and AI-related investment continues to generate strong demand,' said Daniela Hathorn, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com.
She added, 'The fall in oil prices gives policymakers more flexibility, but underlying inflation pressures have not disappeared.'
On the inflation front, a report released by the Labor Department showed import prices in the U.S. shot up by much more than expected in the month of May.
The Labor Department said import prices jumped by 1.9 percent in May after leaping by an upwardly revised 2.0 percent in April.
Economists had expected import prices to increase by 1.0 percent compared to the 1.9 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said the annual rate of import price growth accelerated to 6.7 percent in May, reflecting the largest year-over-year advance since August 2022.
Sector News
Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, semiconductor stocks have moved sharply lower on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunging by 2.6 percent after ending the previous session at a record closing high.
Significant weakness is also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index.
Software, telecom and energy stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while housing, gold and banking stocks have shown strong moves to the upside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index crept up by 0.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.7 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the upward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.8 basis points at 4.451 percent.
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