The S&P 500 fell on Tuesday as chipmakers were dented by ratings downgrades and utilities declined prior to an expected Federal Reserve rate of interest hike, offsetting a raise through the energy sector.
S&P 500 financials, including interest-rate-sensitive bank stocks, dipped 0.38% prior to the expected increasing amount of interest rates with the Fed on Wednesday. Utilities, which are likely to be favoured in low-rate environments because of the solid dividend payments, slid 1.22%
The S&P 500 energy index added 0.57% as Brent oil hit a four-year high, boosted by imminent US sanctions on Iranian exports, and Opec and Russia’s desire not to raise output.
US consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in September, bringing it even closer levels last affecting 2000, the Conference Board said, underscoring strength from the labor market as well as overall economy.
The data pushed the S&P 500 consumer discretionary index up 0.59%.
“Many of the noise around trade and everything else around politics really hasn’t suppressed consumer confidence nearly to the degree that the other elements have boosted it,” said Mike Dowdall, investment strategist for BMO Global Asset Management, in Chicago.
The Philadelphia semiconductor index dropped 1.70%, weighing over the S&P 500 technology index, after brokerages Raymond James and KeyBanc cut their ratings on the quantity of chipmakers. Intel fell 2.13% after Raymond James downgraded the stock.
Buoyed by strong economic growth and deep corporate tax cuts, the S&P 500 has gained 9% to this point in 2018. But five on the S&P 500 sector indexes are down year so far, such as consumer staples index, down 5.6%. Consumer staples on Tuesday lost 0.73%. The other six are higher, led from the technology index’s 19% rally.
“You will discover different stories for various sectors, it’s a finicky little market,” said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading. “If you’re a money manager, you have to be very wary with what you’re buying.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.26% to end at 26 492.21 points, additionally, the S&P 500 lost 0.13% to 2 915.56.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.18% to eight 007.47. Amazon provided the greatest lift towards technology-heavy index, jumping 2.08%.
In extended trade, Nike fell 2.89% after it reported quarterly results.
CenturyLink tumbled 8% after chief financial officer Sunit Patel left the firm in a very surprise transfer to join T-Mobile to oversee its integration with Sprint. T-Mobile rose 0.77% and Sprint added 0.31%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones to the NYSE by the 1.20-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.00-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 65 new highs and 54 new lows.
Volume upon us exchanges was 6.6 billion shares, just underneath the 6.7 billion average during the last 20 trading days.?
