Dow Finishes Choppy Trading Day Little Changed, Nasdaq Sees Further Downside

Following the sell-off seen to start the week, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The Dow eventually ended the session nearly unchanged, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed lower for the third straight session.

The Dow spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing up 3.07 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 33,852.53. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 edged down 6.31 points or 0.2 percent to 10,983.78 and the Nasdaq slid 65.72 points or 0.6 percent to 10,983.78.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid lingering uncertainty about the situation in China following widespread protests over the country’s Covid restrictions.

Mainland China reported the first decrease in new Covid infections in more than a week on Monday, generating some positive sentiment.

Chinese health officials also released a plan to boost vaccinations for elderly people and said they are “closely watching” the virus as it evolves and mutates.

The officials defended China’s zero-Covid policy at a press briefing on Tuesday but said lockdowns would be lifted “as quickly as possible.”

However, traders previously saw their hopes for an easing of Covid restrictions in China dashed by the recent surge in new cases, leading to some hesitation.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days, including the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell are also likely to be in focus on Wednesday, as traders look for additional clues about the outlook for interest rates.

The Conference Board released a report this morning showing a modest decrease in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of November.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dipped to 100.2 in November from a revised 102.2 in October. Economists had expected the index to slip to 100.0 from the 102.5 originally reported for the previous month.

Sector News

Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, gold stocks moved sharply higher in the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.9 percent.

The rally by gold stocks came amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for February delivery climbing $8.40 to $1,763.70 an ounce.

Significant strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.

Energy, commercial real estate and transportation stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while computer hardware and biotechnology stocks moved to the downside.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index surged by 2.3 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index soared by 5.2 percent, although Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index bucked the uptrend and fell by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries saw further downside after ending the previous session modestly lower. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 4.5 basis points to 3.748 percent.

Looking Ahead

Powell’s speech is likely to be in the spotlight on Wednesday, although traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on private sector employment, job openings and pending home sales as well as the Fed’s Beige Book.

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