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The S&P 500 slipped on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said interest rates may need to stay elevated.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 63.66 points to 37,798.77, helped by UnitedHealth shares. The 30-stock blue-chip index snapped a six-day run of losses. With Tuesday’s bounce on the Dow, the index is on track to snap a sixth-day losing streak, its longest negative streak since June.
The much-broader index fell back 10.49 points to 5,051.33.
The NASDAQ sank 19.77 points to 15,865.25.
Stocks were choppy in afternoon trading after Powell said that the current state of economic policy should remain in place amid sticky prices.
However, the Dow was buoyed by UnitedHealth’s rally of more than 5% on the back of better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter.
That outweighed fellow Dow member Johnson & Johnson, which fell nearly 2% on the heels of mixed quarterly results.
Morgan Stanley advanced more than 2% after beating analysts’ consensus forecasts on both lines. Bank of America tumbled more than 3% after announcing profit and revenue fell.
America’s largest companies have given Wall Street reason for optimism in the early innings of the new corporate earnings season. Of the less than 10% of S&P 500-listed firms that have reported financials, nearly 4 of every 5 have exceeded Wall Street consensus estimates.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell, raising yields to 4.66% from Monday’s 4.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices forfeited five cents to $85.36 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dumped $23.30, to $2,406.30 U.S. an ounce.
