U.S. stocks were mixed in trading on Tuesday. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower at 17787.13 for a loss of -86.09 points or -0.48 percent. The S&P 500 was also down, closing at 2096.95 for a loss of -2.11 points or -0.10 percent. The Nasdaq Composite was higher for the day at 4948.05 for a gain of 14.55 points or 0.29 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was higher for the day at 14.26 for a gain of 1.14 points or 8.69 percent.
Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.
Tuesday’s Market Movers
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department’s Personal Income and Outlays report showed personal income increasing at consensus for the month at 0.4 percent. Consumer spending was higher than expected at 1.0 percent versus consensus of 0.7 percent. The PCE Price Index showed a monthly gain of 0.3 percent at consensus and the Core PCE Index was also at consensus for a monthly gain of 0.2 percent. Annual inflation as measured by the PCE Price Index was 1.1 percent and annual inflation for the Core PCE Price Index was 1.6 percent. Both annual readings were closer to the Fed’s inflation objective of 2 percent which will be consideration for the Fed at its next meeting on June 14 and 15.
The S&P Case-Shiller HPI was also reported Tuesday. The Index showed continued strengthening in the housing market with the 20-city seasonal average for home prices up 0.9 percent from the previous month, above consensus of 0.7 percent. The 20-city non-seasonal annual average was also higher, reporting a gain of 5.4 percent which was above consensus of 5.1 percent.
Stocks trading actively for Tuesday included Bank of America Corp., Chesapeake Energy, Apple Inc., Ford, Regions Financial Corp., Alcoa Inc., Micron Technology, Citigroup and General Electric.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the top gains and losses for Tuesday included the following:
Gains
Caterpillar 0.92 percent
Microsoft 0.65 percent
Verizon 0.65 percent
American Express 0.49 percent
IBM 0.43 percent
Losses
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. -2.4 percent
Boeing -2.28 percent
Nike -1.66 percent
Home Depot -1.15 percent
Walt Disney -1.0 percent
Top sectors gaining for the day included utilities and healthcare while materials and consumer staples led losses. In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.41 points or 0.35 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.16 points to 95.86.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 was higher at 1155.23 for a gain of 4.78 points or 0.42 percent. The S&P 600 closed at 705.10 for a gain of 2.25 points or 0.32 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7093.07 for a gain of 25.87 points or 0.37 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM closed at 8296.35 for a gain of 19.36 points or 0.23 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 1493.24 for a gain of 1.17 points or 0.08 percent; the Russell 3000 closing at 1236.24 for a loss of -0.38 points or -0.03 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closing at 591.73 for a gain of 0.23 points or 0.04 percent.