NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is muddling through a mixed Tuesday of trading as rising tech stocks help offset drops for homebuilders, Ford Motor and others.
The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in afternoon trading, even though more stocks within the index were falling than rising. It’s hanging near its all-time high set earlier this month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 68 points, or 0.2%, as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher and on track to top its own record set in July.
Ford sank 8.6% after saying an underlying measure of profit for the full year will likely come in at the bottom end of its forecasted range. The automaker said stubbornly high warranty expenses and other costs are holding back its profits, though its results for the third quarter were better than analysts expected.
JetBlue Airways lost 16.8% even though its results for the latest quarter were better than analysts expected. The carrier said its revenue could fall between 3% and 7% in the last three months of 2024 from a year earlier, hurt by this month’s Hurricane Milton and the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
D.R. Horton tumbled 8.5% after the homebuilder reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Executive Chairman David Auld said some potential home buyers are waiting for mortgage rates to become more affordable and are sitting on the sidelines. D.R. Horton’s results dragged down stocks of other homebuilders, and Lennar and PulteGroup both fell at least 3%.
Mortgage rates have been climbing recently because the 10-year Treasury yield has been charging higher.
Yields have rallied as report after report has shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. On Tuesday, reports said that confidence among U.S. consumers jumped more economists expected, while the number of job openings edged lower in September, but the number of hires remained steady.
Such numbers are forcing traders to ratchet back expectations for how much the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, now that it’s just as focused on keeping the economy humming as getting inflation down. Traders are even betting on a slim chance the Fed will keep its main interest rate steady at its meeting next week, according to data from CME Group.
That’s after the Fed kicked off its rate-cutting campaign in September with a larger-than-usual reduction. Many traders were thinking just a month ago the Fed would follow up with another bigger-than-usual cut in November.
Yields have also climbed as investors have seen former President Donald Trump’s chances of re-election improving. Economists say a Trump win could help push inflation higher in the long term, and worsening inflation could push the Fed to hike interest rates.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that tends to move more with Trump’s re-election odds than on its own profit prospects, climbed another 12.4% to $53.20 Tuesday. It was moving so sharply that trading of its stock was briefly halted several times during the morning. The parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform has been rallying since hitting a bottom of roughly $12 in late September.
Several Big Tech stocks were also among the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500. Alphabet rose 1.7% ahead of its profit report that’s scheduled to arrive after trading ends for the day. The parent company of Google will be the latest member of the influential group of stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” to report its quarterly results, and each will have to deliver big growth to justify their high prices.
Treasury yields climbed again Tuesday, and the 10-year yield rose to 4.30% from 4.28% late Monday and just 3.60% in the middle of last month. Treasury yields, like stocks, have historically tended to be shaky heading into an Election Day, only to calm afterward regardless of which party wins.
In stock markets abroad, indexes mostly made modest moves outside of a 1.1% drop for stocks in Shanghai.
Crude oil prices slipped after erasing earlier gains to add to their sharp 6.1% drop from the prior day. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.6%.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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