USA Women's Olympic Water Polo Goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson holds her gold medal as she poses for photos outside the New York Stock Exchange, before ringing the opening bell, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
By Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga
Stocks capped another wobbly day of trading on Wall Street with modest gains Tuesday, as financial and industrial companies helped lift the market, outweighing a pullback in technology stocks.
The S&P 500 recovered from an early slip and eked out a 0.1% gain, enough to eclipse the record high it set Friday. The majority of companies in the benchmark index made gains, but they were kept in check by technology companies, which have an outsized weight on the S&P 500.
Banks made some of the strongest gains as bond yields edged higher. Banks benefit from higher yields, which allow them to charge higher interest rates on loans. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.35% from 1.31% late Monday.
Oil prices pulled up after sliding most of the last week and into Monday. U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 2.7% and helped lift the S&P 500's energy sector to 1.7% gain. Exxon Mobil rose 1.7% and Chevron gained 1.8%.
The broader market remains choppy with investors in the midst of a relatively quiet week. The latest round of corporate earnings is nearly finished and there are only a few pieces of economic data expected.
“We think this is a growing market and a growing economy and there’s room for this market to move,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “But that growth story does have some risk to it.”
The S&P 500 gained 4.40 points to 4,436.75. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 162.82 points, or 0.5%, to 35,264.67. The blue-chip index also notched an all-time high.
The slide in technology stocks weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which lost 72.09 points, or 0.5%, to 14,788.09. Small company stocks rose. The Russell 2000 index gained 4.55 points, or 0.2%, to 2,239.36.
Wall Street is still trying to gauge the pace of economic growth amid new worries about the latest wave of COVID-19 from the more contagious delta variant. Parts of Japan, including Tokyo, the capital, remain under a state of emergency as surging numbers of infections put more COVID-19 patients in already overburdened hospitals.
Analysts have said that the pace of growth will likely continue to slow as the year rolls on, but the latest surge with the virus has raised more concerns about just how much. Investors could have a better sense of the virus' impact on the economy in the coming months as schools reopen from summer break and people try to get back to normal activities, Haworth said.
Inflation concerns and the Federal Reserve's future plans to ease up on its support for low interest rates also hangs over the markets.
Earnings season is wrapping up with several big names. Sysco surged 6.5% after the food distributor reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street's estimates.
Ebay will report its results on Wednesday and Walt Disney will report results on Thursday.
Kansas City Southern jumped 7.5% after Canadian Pacific raised its offer for the railroad operator, reigniting a bidding war with Canadian National.
AT&T announced it's offering two tiers of high-speed internet, 2 gigs, and 5 gigs, to its fiber customers in more than 70 metro regions. AT&T Consumer CEO Thaddeus Arroyo joined Cheddar to talk about the newly available speed upgrades for 5.2 million of its customers, and where the rollout goes from here. "Over the course of 2022, we'll rapidly continue to retrofit the rest of the base," he said. "And importantly now is, as we build-out, we've talked about building out to cover 30 million homes and businesses by the end of 2025, we're going to continue to ensure that every new location that we stand up has this multi gig capability."
Autonomous driving tech company Waymo is partnering with transportation and logistics business J.B. Hunt. The two firms are teaming up to bring autonomous shipping to the highways. Head of commercialization for trucking at Waymo, Charlie Jatt, joined Cheddar to discuss how the companies are combining their strengths. "We, of course at Waymo, are working on the technology side of affairs, and J. B Hunt brings critical operational and commercial expertise," Jatt said. "And together we're going to work to deploy the first fully autonomous Class 8 truck hauling goods for one of their customers in the coming years in Texas."
Amid a rough week for Peloton's stock, as well as its image — its bikes being the cause of death for two fictional TV characters now — an activist investor is calling for a change in upper management. Chief investment officer of Blackwell, Jason Aintabi, petitioned in a letter that Peloton’s CEO, John Foley, must be fired. Joining Cheddar to discuss the ultimatum, Hatem Dhiab, a portfolio manager and managing partner at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management noted the conditions leading to the demand for Foley's removal. "The stock is basically 85 percent below the high," he said. "I think there is some change that needs to happen, and that's just the reality."
Talent Resources Sports is partnering with ABG Entertainment to host Sports Illustrated The Party during the weekend of Super Bowl LVI, featuring musical performances by Kygo, Jack Harlow, and other guests. David Spencer and Mike Heller, co-CEOs and founders of Talent Resources Sports, joined Cheddar to discuss the details behind putting on the event. “We’re just really pumped that after all of the things that got canceled people will finally have a place to let some steam off in such an exciting moment, such a charged moment with the Super Bowl,” Mike Heller said about putting on the live event after previous COVID-related cancellations.
Mayors in cities like Miami and New York City are considering introducing cryptocurrencies as a way to reduce economic inequality. Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez has even pushed for distributing Bitcoin dividends to the city's inhabitants.
As companies look toward the metaverse concept to further move their companies online, Shep Ogden, CEO and co-founder of Offbeat Media, spoke with Cheddar about questions investors should be posing to businesses like how customized the metaverse experience will be. "One of the best things that people can do, or companies can do, to be competitive is really find those influencers within the community that are very deep in the space," Ogden added.
