New York, US stocks closed mixed on Tuesday, with the three major indexes posting slight changes, as the market was pulled back by an overall retreating tech stock sector, led by losses of big corporate shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 73.92 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 26,909.43. The S&P 500 increased 0.96 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 2,979.39, Xinhua reported.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 3.28 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 8,084.16.
The majority of the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow notched gains around market close, with shares of Apple up 1.18 per cent, wiping out its morning losses.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded higher around the closing bell, with the energy sector up nearly 1.3 per cent, leading the gainers. Yet the information technology sector declined nearly 0.5 per cent, among the worst performers in the tally.
Most of the closely-observed FAANG stocks, or the market’s five most popular and best-performing tech stocks, namely Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet’s Google, notched losses during morning sessions, with shares of Netflix down 2.16 per cent.
Shares of Ctrip.com International fell 2.68 per cent, after the Chinese travel services giant reported better-than-expected profit for the second quarter. Yet its quarterly revenue came shy of market forecast.
On the economic front, the number of job openings was little changed at 7.2 million on the last business day of July, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday. The job openings rate was 4.5 per cent.
Over the month, hires edged up to 6 million and separations increased to 5.8 million. Within separations, the quits rate, and the layoffs and discharges rate were little changed at 2.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.
