The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its early afternoon gains fade while the S&P 500 reversed lower minutes before the closing bell on Tuesday as a flare-up in U.S.-China tensions took a new twist with another tweet from President Donald Trump Tuesday afternoon. In stocks, Nvidia and Tesla gave up ground on the stock market today.
The Dow rose 0.4%, or 200 points, after a weak opening Tuesday that saw the index drop 600 points. The S&P 500 fell after moving into positive territory, lagging 0.2% at the finish.
The Nasdaq failed to venture into the black, and losses steepened for the tech-dominated index to 0.8% at the close. But the small-cap Russell 2000 was a standout with its 1.4% climb.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange and on the Nasdaq was higher compared with the same time on Monday. Advancers led decliners by around 2-to-1 on the NYSE and roughly 3-to-2 on the Nasdaq.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.02%. West Texas Intermediate futures fell more than 1% to $58.45 a barrel.
Trump's Latest China Tweet Halts Market Momentum
Just before the close, President Trump said on TruthSocial that "China purposefully not buying our soybeans, and causing difficulty for our soybean farmers, is an economically hostile act. We are considering terminating business with China having to do with cooking oil, and other elements of trade, as retribution."
Up until that point the Dow was up more than 300 points and the S&P had moved into the black for the session. Investors had been encouraged by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech, in which he suggested more interest rate cuts may be necessary to counter a slowdown in hiring.
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3:19 p.m. ET
Tech Lags The S&P
Among the S&P 500 sectors, technology was the only laggard. Industrials, financials and consumer staples gained 1.5% or more.
Nvidia was the worst performer in the Dow, dropping 3.5%. It was seconded by Salesforce, off 2%. Meanwhile, Walmart and Caterpillar lifted blue chips as each surged roughly 5%.
Outside the Dow, Tesla managed to cut into its deficit for the day, but remained down more than 1% in recent action.
2:41 p.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Walmart Partners With OpenAI
Walmart soared to an all-time high after the retail giant announced a partnership with OpenAI, allowing customers to use ChatGPT for their shopping. Shares are also in a buy zone above a buy point of 104.72.
Among chip stocks, Navitas Semiconductor soared 30%. The company is making power chips for Nvidia's artificial intelligence factory computing platforms. Shares broke out of a cup base at a buy point of 9.48 on Friday and are extended on Tuesday.
1:40 p.m. ET
Powell: Fed Uses ADP, State Data
In the discussion following his speech, Fed Chair Powell said the downside risks to the labor market seemed to call for a more neutral monetary policy. But he said that if the Fed moves too quickly, inflation may remain unaddressed in the near term. Powell does not see "a risk-free path" for policy.
Meanwhile, in the absence of government reports, Powell said the Fed is monitoring data from state reports and ADP data on employment, though the Bureau of Labor Statistics data is the gold standard. For inflation data and data on economic activity, nongovernment substitutes were sparse.
Answering a question on the recent rally in gold, Powell noted that the Fed sees inflation as something driven by supply and demand growth. He said the Fed does not track gold or bitcoin as an indicator for inflation.
Further, referring to the recent division of opinions among committee members, Powell said the consensus amid Fed participants was "great" but "getting it right" and finding an answer that will get as much support as possible among the committee members were important.
12:54 p.m. ET
Powell: Fed Ready To Reduce Bond Holdings
On Tuesday, Fed Chair Powell said that the central bank was close to a point where it would stop reducing its bond holdings.
Powell did not give any indication of where rates were headed ahead of the Fed meeting later this month. He did mention that though some data was missing due to the shutdown, the Fed relied on other public and private data sources.
The Fed chief mentioned that the outlook for employment and inflation does not appear to have changed since the September meeting. But he added the data seemed to suggest that inflation continued to reflect tariffs rather than broader inflationary pressures.
Nova Minerals rocketed 85% higher after its announcement that the Trump administration may be interested in its critical minerals project in Alaska. Shares had cleared a buy point of 14.62 from a consolidation base in September and now are vastly extended above a 20% profit zone.
12:08 p.m. ET
Boeing Gets A Lift On Delivery News
Shares of Boeing rose after the aircraft-making giant said it delivered 55 planes in September, the most since 2018, CNBC reported. The company had delivered 440 planes as of September, compared with 568 planes in the first nine months of 2018.
Boeing stock added 0.5%. The stock sits in a flat base with a buy point of 242.69.
11:02 a.m. ET
These Winners Try To Lift Markets
Several companies managed to post sizable gains after reporting earnings Tuesday. One was Citigroup, which climbed 2% after beating analyst estimates.
Third-quarter earnings per share of $1.86 on revenue of $22.1 billion came in above Wall Street estimates of EPS of $1.73 on revenue of $21 billion. Shares had broken out of a cup-with-handle base in June and had rallied past their 25% profit zone before pulling back to their 50-day moving average.
Elsewhere, Domino's Pizza jumped more than 3% after it announced third-quarter earnings of $4.08 per share on sales of $1.1 billion. Earnings declined 3% from the prior quarter but sales grew 6%.
Shares retook their 21-day moving average. U.S. same-store sales grew 5.2% from the prior year while international same-store sales rose 1.7%.
Outside of earnings, shares of General Motors rose fractionally even though the automotive behemoth wrote down a $1.6 billion charge for its September-ended quarter.
The company said it was due to a "planned strategic realignment of our (electric vehicle) capacity and manufacturing footprint to consumer demand." Shares had fallen below their 50-day moving average amid a five-day losing streak but reversed higher.
10:24 a.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Powell To Speak; J&J Falls
Fed Chair Powell is due to speak at the National Association for Business Economics in Philadelphia later Tuesday. The Federal Reserve meets on Oct. 28 and 29 to decide on the interest rate amid delayed economic reports. Traders see a 97% chance of a 25-basis-point cut in October.
In stocks, Johnson & Johnson fell more than 1% in early trade despite topping earnings views. The bellwether pharmaceutical and medical products company reported third-quarter sales of $24 billion, beating the estimate of $23.8 billion from analysts polled by FactSet. J&J also announced it will spin off its orthopedics business.
Earnings per share of $2.80 per share also topped estimates of $2.76 per share. The stock remains extended from a cup base buy point of 169.99.
9:41 a.m. ET
Nasdaq 100 Winners, Losers: T-Mobile, Shopify
Among the Nasdaq 100 stocks, T-Mobile US rallied nearly 2%, making it one of the best stocks in morning action.
Meanwhile, Shopify and Strategy each tumbled between 4% and 5%.
9:08 a.m. ET
Dow Jones Movers: Amazon, Caterpillar, Salesforce, UnitedHealth
Inside the blue chip index, Amazon, Caterpillar and UnitedHealth Group were among the biggest losers in the early morning session.
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Amazon stock lost 1.4%, threatening to nearly erase the entirety of Monday's 1.7% rebound. Caterpillar shares declined 0.7%, still sharply above a 441.15 buy point. And UnitedHealth stock moved 0.9% lower.
On the upside, Salesforce rose modestly after announcing a partnership with OpenAI to allow companies to access Salesforce's Agentforce 360 platform with ChatGPT.
8:14 a.m. ET
Stock Market Today: Nvidia And Tesla Sell Off
Nvidia stock declined nearly 2% in premarket trading Tuesday, threatening to give back a large part of Monday's 2.8% rebound and fall back below a 184.48 flat-base entry.
Meanwhile, Tesla shares skidded more than 2% early Tuesday after Monday's 5.4% rally. The stock remains sharply above a 367.71 buy point.
Dow Jones Stocks JPMorgan, Goldman Report Earnings
JPMorgan shares slipped 0.3% Tuesday morning after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings results. But Chief Executive Jamie Dimon warned in a statement of a "heightened degree of uncertainty stemming from complex geopolitical conditions, tariffs and trade uncertainty, elevated asset prices and the risk of sticky inflation."
Meanwhile, Goldman stock dropped 2% premarket Tuesday despite the firm's stronger-than-expected results for the third quarter.
Other earnings movers include BlackRock, Citigroup, Domino's Pizza, Johnson & Johnson and Wells Fargo.
BlackRock shares moved down 0.1% in early action, while Citigroup rose modestly. Domino's shares rallied 3.5% as J&J stock edged lower. Finally, Wells Fargo moved up nearly 3% in premarket trading.
Stock Market Today: U.S.-China Tensions
Early Tuesday, China banned Chinese companies from doing business with U.S. subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean.
China's action is the latest escalation of U.S.-China tensions after President Donald Trump last week announced a 100% extra tariff on Chinese goods effective Nov. 1.
Trump later softened those comments saying on Truth Social, "Don't worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn't want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!"
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