US stocks drifted lower Tuesday following mixed data on the economy's strength.
- The S&P 500 fell 16.25 points, or 0.2%, to 6,800.26 and remains a bit below its all-time high set last week.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 302.30 points, or 0.6%, to 48,114.26.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 54.05 points, or 0.2%, to 23,111.46.
Energy stocks fell to some of the market's worst losses after the price for US crude fell to its lowest level since 2021, the
AP reports. It fell 2.7% Monday, as did Brent crude, the international standard. APA's stock fell 5.2%, Marathone Petroleum sank 4.7%, and Halliburton dropped 4.2% for some of Wall Street's larger losses.
Artificial-intelligence technology stocks, meanwhile, were mixed after dominating the market in recent days. Oracle rose 2%, and Broadcom added 0.4%. But CoreWeave, which rents out access to top-of-the-line AI chips, fell 3.9%. Elsewhere on Wall Street, Pfizer fell 3.4% after giving a forecast for profit in 2026 that was below what some analysts expected. Kraft Heinz rose 0.7% after saying Steve Cahillane, who was most recently CEO of Kellanova, will join as CEO on Jan. 1. After Kraft Heinz splits into two companies, which is expected to happen in the second half of 2026, Cahillane will lead the one that will hold onto the Heinz, Philadelphia, and Kraft Mac & Cheese brands.
Treasury yields eased after reports on the US job market, retail sales, and business activity did little to clear uncertainty about where the Federal Reserve may take interest rates next year. One report said the US unemployment rate was at its worst level since 2021, but employers also added more jobs last month than economists expected. A separate report, meanwhile, said an underlying measure of strength for revenue at US retailers grew more in October than economists expected. The mixed data kept alive hopes that the Federal Reserve could continue to cut interest rates further in 2026. A report coming on Thursday will show how bad inflation was last month, and economists expect it to show prices for US consumers continue to rise faster than anyone would like.
A report released on Tuesday after US stocks began trading suggested price pressures are rising sharply, with average selling prices for businesses climbing at one of the fastest rates since the middle of 2022. The preliminary data from S&P Global also said growth for overall business activity slowed to its weakest level since June. "Higher prices are again being widely blamed on tariffs, with an initial impact on manufacturing now increasingly spilling over to services to broaden the affordability problem," according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
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