In this June 7, 2021 file photo, the Federal Hall statue of George Washington overlooks the New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
By Damian J. Troise and Stan Choe
U.S. stocks drifted further into record heights in a listless day of trading on Tuesday, as Wall Street waits for the heavyweight economic data coming at the end of the week.
The S&P 500 inched up by 1.19 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4,291.80 and added to its all-time high set a day earlier. More stocks fell than rose within the index, but gains for tech companies made up for weakness for banks and utilities.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged higher by 9.02 points, or less than 0.1%, to 34,292.29. The Nasdaq composite added 27.83, or 0.2%, to its record high from a day before and finished at 14,528.33.
Stocks have set their recent records on optimism that the economy is strengthening and that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low for a while longer.
A report released Tuesday morning showed a measure of confidence among U.S. consumers is continuing to rise, beating economists’ expectations for a slight decline. That’s key for an economy made up mostly of spending by consumers.
A separate report showed that home prices across the country rose again in April, continuing their blistering pace.
With one day left in June, the market is getting ready to close out a strong first half of the year. The S&P 500 is on track for a gain of 14.3%, more than double its average for a full year, going back to the start of the millennium.
Technology stocks did much of Tuesday’s heavy lifting for the broader market. Apple rose 1.2%, and Microsoft gained 1%.
Morgan Stanley rose 3.4% after announcing a doubling of its dividend and plans to buy back $12 billion of its own stock. Other bank stocks were mixed following their own announcements. Goldman Sachs rose 1.1%, but Bank of America fell 1.6%. As a group, financial stocks in the S&P 500 fell.
The big piece of economic data this week will be Friday’s jobs report for June. Economists expect it to show U.S. employers created 675,000 more jobs than they cut, with the unemployment rate falling to 5.7%.
Job growth has been choppy recently, with gains falling disappointingly short of economists’ expectations in recent months. That’s key because the Fed is likely to keep up its support for the economy through low interest rates as long as the job market looks like it needs help.
“This Friday’s unemployment number is pretty important because its going to determine the trajectory of when the Fed is actually going to adjust its policies,” said Andrew Slimmon, portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
The central bank, meanwhile, has stuck by its position that high inflation is likely to be only temporary. That would allow it to keep interest rates low for longer than it otherwise would.
Long-term bond yields have leveled out after jumping earlier in the year in part because of inflation concerns. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 1.47% from 1.48% late Monday.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
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