Stocks opened higher on Tuesday but lost steam as the session wore on, with weakness in several mega-cap stocks dampening the market’s momentum. Investors were eagerly awaiting tonight’s quarterly results from Microsoft, which kick off a busy stretch of Big Tech earnings, as well as tomorrow’s policy announcement from the Federal Reserve.
The economic calendar was full today, with the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index showing that home prices were up 5.9% year-over-year in May, although this was slower than the 6.4% gain seen in April. New York City saw the biggest year-over-year increase at 9.4%, while Portland, Oregon, saw the smallest rise at 1%.
Consumer confidence also ticked higher in July, according to The Conference Board, with the Consumer Confidence Index climbing 2.5 points to 100.3. However, job openings barely budged in June, remaining unchanged at 8.2 million.
In single-stock news, Howmet Aerospace saw its stock jump 13.2% after reporting higher-than-expected earnings and revenue. Despite the positive results, the stock was downgraded by CFRA Research analyst Daniel Rich due to its high valuation.
PayPal Holdings also saw a rally in its stock price, rising 8.6% after beating expectations for its second quarter and increasing its share repurchase program to $6 billion.
On the flip side, Procter & Gamble saw its stock decline 4.8% after falling short of revenue estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter.
Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5%, the S&P 500 fell 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.3%, with mega-cap stocks like Nvidia and Tesla weighing on the tech-heavy index. Investors will be closely watching for more earnings reports and the Fed’s policy announcement in the coming days.
