WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving in opposite directions early in the session, the Nasdaq and the Dow turned in a mixed performance throughout much of the trading day on Tuesday.
While the Nasdaq briefly joined the Dow in negative territory in afternoon trading, the tech-heavy index rebounded to end the day at a new record closing high.
The Nasdaq climbed 99.09 points or 0.6 percent to 17,019.88, adding to the strong gain posted last Friday. The S&P 500 also inched up 1.32 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,306.04, while the Dow slid 216.73 points or 0.6 percent to 38,852.86, extending the sharp pullback seen last week.
The continued advance by the Nasdaq came amid a sharp increase by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling surging by 7.1 percent to a record closing high.
Last week, Nvidia reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results and provided upbeat guidance while also announcing a ten-for-one stock split and increasing its quarterly cash dividend by 150 percent to $0.10 per share.
The Nasdaq gave back ground in afternoon trading, as the ten-year treasury yield jumped above 4.5 percent after auctions of two-year and five-year notes attracted below average demand.
Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Merck (MRK) weighed on the Dow, as the drug giant tumbled by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.
Overall trading activity remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of key inflation data later this week.
On Friday, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on personal income and spending in the month of April, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.
The inflation data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting on June 11-12.
In an interview with CNBC this morning, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he needs to see 'many more months of positive inflation data' before he would consider cutting interest rates.
Kashkari, who does not have a vote on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, also said he could not rule out raising interest rates if inflation fails to slow.
On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report unexpectedly showing a significant improvement in consumer confidence in the month of May.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped to 102.0 in May from an upwardly revised 97.5 in April.
The rebound surprised economists, who had expected the consumer confidence index to decrease to 95.3 from the 97.0 originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Airline stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.0 percent to its lowest closing level in over four months.
Considerable weakness also emerged among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.
Healthcare and pharmaceutical stocks also saw notable weakness, while gold stocks showed a strong move to the upside along with the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.2 percent.
Oil service stocks also moved significantly higher amid a surge by the price of crude oil, resulting in a 1.7 percent gain by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index.
Semiconductor and computer hardware stocks also turned in strong performances on the day, contributing to the advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved modestly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.5 percent.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index declined by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.
In the bond market, treasuries slid firmly into negative territory over the course of the session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 7.5 basis points to a nearly one-month closing high of 4.542 percent.
Looking Ahead
The U.S. economic calendar remains relatively quiet on Wednesday, although the Fed's Beige Book may attract some attention later in the trading day.
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