Stocks closed near Monday’s lows as giants Tesla Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. weighed on the Nasdaq 100. Traders also parsed economic data, with inflation remaining at the forefront of the investment debate. The dollar dropped, while Treasuries rose.
Tech and retail companies in the S&P 500 fell, while commodity and industrial shares gained. Pfizer Inc. climbed as the Biden administration will support its move to begin exporting U.S.-made doses of the coronavirus vaccine, while Moderna Inc. rallied after agreeing to provide as many as 500 million doses of its shot to the global program Covax. Estee Lauder Cos. sank as the cosmetics giant’s sales missed estimates.
A report Monday showed that growth at U.S. manufacturers cooled in April, while a gauge of prices paid for materials jumped to the highest since 2008. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the economic recovery is “making real progress,” but the gains have been uneven following a downturn that cut hard along lines of race and income. New York Fed President John Williams noted that current conditions are “not nearly enough” for a shift in the monetary policy stance.
