Stocks turn mixed on Wall Street a day after big sell-off
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks turned mixed on Wall Street in afternoon trading Tuesday after a rally in technology companies helped reverse an early slide.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% as of 3:25 p.m. Eastern. The benchmark index was down as much as 0.8% in early trading. It slumped 3.2% a day earlier, hitting its lowest level in more than a year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed, shifting between small gains and losses. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 1.5%.
Big technology stocks, which have been swinging sharply both up and down recently, accounted for much of the S&P 500’s turnaround. Apple rose 2.2% and Microsoft rose 2.2%.
Gains in communication and health care stocks also helped lift the market, outweighing declines in financial, real estate and other sectors.
Bond yields were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 2.99% from 3.08% late Monday.
Treasury yields have been rising and stocks have been extremely volatile recently as Wall Street adjusts to an aggressive turnaround in the Federal Reserve’s policies away from supporting the economy and toward fighting inflation. The central bank is raising interest rates from historic lows to fight persistently rising inflation, which is at its highest levels in four decades.
The central bank has raised its benchmark rate from close to zero, where it sat for much of the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, it indicated it will double the size of future increases.
Higher prices on raw materials, shipping and labor have been cutting into corporate financial results and forecasts. Many companies have been raising prices on everything from clothing to food, raising concerns that consumers will eventually cut spending, which would hurt economic growth.
Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has only increased worries about rising inflation. The conflict pushed already high oil and natural gas prices even higher, while putting more pressure on costs for key food commodities like wheat and corn. U.S. crude oil prices fell 3.2% on Tuesday, but are up about 36% in 2022. Wheat prices are up more than 40% for the year.
Investors are also still reviewing the latest round of corporate earnings with mixed results. Peloton tumbled 7.4% as the former pandemic darling of investors reported results that were much weaker than Wall Street was expecting. Food distributor Sysco rose 8.2% after beating analysts’ forecasts.
Migraine treatment developer Biohaven Pharmaceutical surged 69% after Pfizer said it will buy the company for $11.6 billion. Pfizer already owns a portion of the company.
Wall Street will get some more details on inflation later this week. The Labor Department on Wednesday will release its report on consumer prices for April. On Thursday, it will release its report on producer prices, or wholesale prices that impact businesses, for April.
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Veiga reported from Los Angeles.