U.S. stocks were mixed in midday trading Tuesday as investors digested the latest economic data and focused on talks over a debt ceiling stalemate that is set to resume later in the day.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.18% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.51%, down more than 160 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) rose 0.28% at around 12:42 p.m. ET.
Wall Street is watching for signs of a move to a dead end in the debt ceiling. meeting A meeting between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Washington.
The meeting came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen again sounded the alarm on Monday if Congress did not raise or suspend the debt ceiling by early next month. In a letter to lawmakers, he said the U.S. could default on its debt as early as June 1, “which will cause serious hardships for American families.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries will attend Tuesday’s meeting. This follows last week’s White House meeting that failed to produce a breakthrough.
Meanwhile, investors turned to economic data, which showed retail sales rose 0.4% in April, only half the growth Wall Street expected. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had called for a 0.8% month-on-month rise after an unexpected fall in March.
Separately, on the housing side, US single-family homebuilder confidence improved for the fifth straight month in May, reaching a 10-month high. This is because limited housing stock has renewed optimism for the sector.
The Wall Street documents also include earnings from Chinese tech giants Alibaba (BABA) and Tencent (TCEHY), as well as retailers such as Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT).
Home Depot (HD) started the quarter with substantially lower same-store sales than expected, while its first-quarter profit was largely below expectations. A major housing renovation company has revised down its full-year sales growth forecast. Stocks fell more than 1% on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, gold fell slightly but remained above $2,000. Precious metals are garnering support as a safe haven amid the growing likelihood of a US debt ceiling crisis.
Senior market analyst Craig Earlham said: “Everybody is very confident that a default will not happen, but the closer the deadline gets, the more these risks are priced into the market, which could support gold. there is,” he said. Note to client.
Government bond yields rose. US 10-year yields rose to 3.53% and 2-year yields rose to 4.09%.
In Washington, former Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank executives are scheduled to testify before the Senate on Tuesday.
Former Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker announced a prepared remark. He said he would apologize for the bank’s failure, saying the acquisition was “personally and professionally devastating” and “I’m really sorry.”
Local bank stocks rose on Tuesday. PacWest Bancorp (PACW) shares fell more than 3%, while Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL) shares rose more than 3%.
In individual stocks, Horizon Serra shares are on the rise after reports that the Federal Trade Commission is preparing to file a lawsuit as early as Tuesday to block Amgen’s (AMGN) $27.8 billion deal to buy a pharmaceutical company. PewTix (HZNP) shares fell 15%.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has withdrawn its commitment to Bank of America (BAC) and bought new shares in Capital One (COF). According to the documents submitted. COF rose more than 2% on Tuesday.
Chinese search engine giant Baidu (BIDU) posted higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings and a 10% increase in revenue, boosting the company’s shares.
Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. follow her on her twitter @daniromerotv
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