Stocks closed mostly lower on Wall Street Tuesday as traders returned from the Labor Day holiday, even as gains for some Big Tech companies nudged the Nasdaq composite barely higher. The benchmark S&P 500 slipped 0.3%. Meanwhile gains for Apple, Facebook and a few other tech heavyweights nudged the Nasdaq up just under 0.1%, enough for another record high. The Dow industrials lost 0.8%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 1.37%, which helped lift bank stocks like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Energy prices fell broadly. The price of benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 1.4%.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Stocks were lower in afternoon trading Tuesday as traders return from the Labor Day weekend and face a relatively light week of economic data.
The S&P 500 lost 0.3% as of 2:32 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 228 points, or 0.6%, to 35,141 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%, within striking distance of an all-time high.
Industrial and health care stocks were the biggest drag on the market and roughly 75% of companies in the benchmark S&P 500 fell. Several big communications companies rose and helped prop up the sector. Netflix rose 3.2%.
Traders are back from their summer holidays, and volatility is expected to pick up in the coming days and weeks. Stocks churned higher throughout the summer, helped by stronger-than-expected earnings from big companies as well as guidance from the Federal Reserve that the central bank plans to keep interest rates low.
The market had only a mild negative reaction to the August jobs report, which showed employers hired fewer workers than expected. The report came out Friday, just ahead of the Monday expiration of extended unemployment benefits, which had been in place since March 2020, when the pandemic started.
“We’re still kind of digesting Friday's weak job number and the potential impact that might have with the economy,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial. “The economy has been showing signs of weakening and we're seeing a clear impact from the delta variant seeping into economic data.”
That same weakness could also have an upside for investors who are hoping the Federal Reserve maintains its support for low interest rates while the jobs market and broader economy continue recovering.
“You have to wonder whether we are in a bad news is good news scenario regarding the Fed,” Detrick said.
A tick up in bond yields was helping out bank stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.36% from 1.32% on Friday. Bank of America rose 1.5%.
Paint and coatings maker PPG Industries fell 3.6% after warning investors that supply chain problems and higher costs will hurt third-quarter sales. The announcement weighed on some of the company's peers. Sherwin-Williams fell 1.4%.
Energy prices were down broadly. U.S. crude oil fell 1.4% while natural gas prices fell 3.1%.
Investors have a few economic reports on tap for the week.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department will report job openings for July. The jobs market is still struggling to recover from the pandemic and employers have been finding it difficult to fill openings amid lingering health fears and the resurgent virus could make it even more difficult.
On Friday, investors will get another update on inflation when the Labor Department reports on inflation at the wholesale level before costs are passed on to consumers.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
