Stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as the S&P 500 and Dow each pulled back from record levels.
The S&P 500 dropped after eking out a record intraday high. The Dow shed more than 1%, or 400 points, at session lows, but pared losses to end lower by just over 200 points. Some Big Tech stocks outperform to help lead the Nasdaq higher, and Amazon (AMZN) gained more than 4.5% while Apple (AAPL) added 1.5% to end at the stock’s highest level since January. Each of the major indexes had jumped to fresh record closing highs on Friday, propelled by a June jobs report that reflected a healthy pace of recovery in the labor market but that did not suggest an overheating economy.
Oil prices turned lower after climbing to a multi-year high amid a breakdown in discussions between OPEC+ members earlier this week, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in a stalemate over production cuts. The meeting, which began with a tentative deal to increase output given elevated energy demand during the pandemic-era recovery, ultimately yielded no decision, sending prices of both U.S. and Brent crude higher. A Reuters report that major oil exporter Saudi Arabia raised its August official selling prices (OSPs) for Asia compounded the move higher in the commodities.