Dow Touches High, Retreats; S&P 500, Nasdaq Down; Intel, Home Depot, Palo Alto, More Movers; Trump Ukraine Meeting Fallout
The Nasdaq Composite tumbled on Tuesday after Wall Street opted to sell some of its favorite stocks of the year.
The tech-heavy index fell 1.5%. The S&P 500 dropped 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked just about 10 points higher.
A majority of stocks actually rose on the day, but the market’s biggest losers included many of the large S&P 500 stocks that have done well this year. Palantir Technologies was the index’s biggest laggard, and so-called Magnificent Seven stocks also languished all afternoon.
“Could this be the start of the August corrective move?” wrote Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at NatAlliance Securities. “Maybe a tad early to say.”
The Dow actually set an intraday record high earlier in the session before a tech-stock slide infected the broader indexes.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.3%, giving a boost to real estate stocks that are sensitive to the mortgage-rate benchmark. Low volatility, value, and dividend stocks all outperformed, while stocks with strong momentum, higher risk, and stronger growth prospects struggled.
“Some modest weakness on the surface today across the major indices, but it’s the factor unwinds showing the true story,” wrote Jonathan Krinsky, BTIG’s chief market technician. “Baskets such as high beta momentum, high vs. low volatility, or retail favorites are all suffering their worst days since April.”
The stock market has entered the late-August lull when many on Wall Street opt for vacation before school is back in session. Low volume could explain why an early dip snowballed into a selloff, but it’ll be worth watching to see if today’s move is the start of a full-blown rotation away from this year’s big winners.
