Wall Street Slips in Quiet Post-Holiday Trading

Wall Street is listless on Tuesday, coming back from a three-day weekend, with markets hovering near their record highs.

The S&P 500 remained mostly unchanged in afternoon trading, sitting just below its record high set a week ago. As of 1:04 p.m. Eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen by 238 points, or 0.6%, while the Nasdaq composite was up 0.5% after reaching its latest all-time high.

U.S. Cellular saw a 5.9% increase after T-Mobile announced plans to purchase nearly all of the company. The deal is valued at $4.4 billion, including up to $2 billion in assumed debt.

Shares of T-Mobile US rose by 0.5%.GameStop surged 26.6% following the announcement that it had raised $933.4 million through a previously disclosed stock sale.

The company, whose stock price often moves more on investor enthusiasm than on changes to its profit outlook, stated it could use the funds for acquisitions, investments, or other general corporate purposes.
Nvidia surged by an additional 6.9%, bringing its year-to-date gain to an impressive 129%. The surge follows its recent blowout profit report from last week, which alleviated concerns that the frenzy surrounding artificial intelligence technology on Wall Street had pushed prices to unsustainable levels.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury increased to 4.52% from 4.47% at the end of Friday. It reversed an earlier, slight decline following a report indicating that confidence among U.S. consumers is strengthening, contrary to economists’ expectations of a decline.

Robust spending by American consumers has been a key factor in the economy’s resilience, thus far defying recession forecasts.

However, signs of strain are emerging, particularly among lower-income households grappling with persistent inflation pressures.

Throughout the upcoming week, a series of reports are expected that could influence the Federal Reserve’s outlook, extending beyond Tuesday’s consumer confidence data.

The highlight of the week is expected to be on Friday when the government releases its latest monthly report on household spending and incomes earned, along with the preferred inflation measure by the Federal Reserve for April.

In global stock markets, indexes experienced modest declines across much of Europe and Asia. London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.8%, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged down by 0.1%.