Major U.S. Stock Indexes Close Mixed Following Recent Strength

(RTTNews) - After trending higher over the past several sessions, the major U.S. stock indexes turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday.

While the Dow showed a notable advance to reach its best closing level in over four months, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 gave back ground.

The Dow jumped 400.17 points or 0.9 percent to 44,494.94, but the S&P 500 edged down 6.94 points or 0.1 percent to 6,198.01 and the Nasdaq slid 166.84 points or 0.8 percent to 20,202.89.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came following the strong performance seen in recent sessions, which saw the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reach new record highs.

Traders also continued to keep an eye on developments in Washington, D.C., where the Senate narrowly voted to approve President Donald Trump's massive tax cuts and spending bill.

With Vice President J.D. Vance voting to break a 50-50 tie, the legislation now heads back to the House, where the Republicans hold a narrow majority.

On the U.S. economic front, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing a modest increase by its reading on U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of June.

The ISM said its manufacturing PMI crept up to 49.0 in June from 48.5 in May, although a reading below 50 still indicates contraction. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 48.8.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected increase by job openings in the U.S. in the month of May.

The Labor Department said job openings climbed to 7.769 million in May from an upwardly revised 7.395 million in April.

Economists had expected job openings to decrease to 7.300 million from the 7.391 million originally reported for the previous month.

Sector News

Housing stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index surging by 3.3 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.9 percent jump by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index.

Transportation, banking and pharmaceutical stocks also saw notable strength, while software and natural gas stocks moved to the downside.

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 slumped by 1.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.4 percent.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.0 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries moved back to the downside following the notably rebound seen on Monday. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.1 basis points to 4.251 percent.