WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday, giving back ground following the strong move to the upside seen in the previous session. The major averages have all slid firmly into negative territory.
Currently, the major averages are off their worst levels of the day but still in the red. The Dow is down 274.97 points or 0.7 percent at 37,408.04, the Nasdaq is down 64.90 points or 0.4 percent at 14,778.86 and the S&P 500 is down 22.48 points or 0.5 percent at 4,741.06.
The weakness on Wall Street comes as some traders look to cash in on yesterday's strong gains amid lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.
While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged later this month, traders have recently become increasingly skeptical about whether the central bank will cut rates in March.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool still indicates a 60.9 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point in March, but that figure is well below recent highs.
Later this week, the Labor Department is due to release its reports on consumer and producer price inflation, which could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in the month of November.
The report said the trade deficit narrowed to $63.2 billion in November from a revised $64.5 billion in October. Economists had expected the trade deficit to widen to $65.0 billion from the $64.3 billion originally reported for the previous month.
The unexpectedly smaller trade deficit came as the value of imports tumbled by 1.9 percent to $316.9 billion, while the value of export slumped by 1.9 percent to $253.7 billion.
Sector News
Tobacco stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index down by 3.2 percent.
Significant weakness is also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent slump by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The weakness in the sector comes despite a rebound by the price of crude oil.
Steel stocks are also seeing considerable weakness on the day, resulting in a 2.2 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.
Computer hardware, brokerage and gold stocks have also moved notably lower, while some strength has emerged among networking stocks.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped by 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has edged down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both down by 0.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have bounced back near the unchanged line after seeing early weakness. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.010 percent.
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