NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are drifting toward the finish line of a tough June on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged and heading toward its first losing month following two fabulous ones. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 125 points, or 0.2 per cent, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3 per cent higher.
The main reason for this month’s rockiness has been weakness for stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry. After roaring to tremendous heights in the frenzy around AI, such stocks have come under pressure because of worries that they shot too high. That’s a big deal for all investors because AI stocks have grown into some of Wall Street’s largest and most influential, pulling indexes behind them.
AI stocks were a bit calmer on Tuesday, with Nvidia rising 1.8 per cent.
The relatively quiet trading came as companies close their books for the quarter running from April through June. Investors will want to see strong growth in profits to justify the big gains stocks made early in the quarter. Even with June’s drop, the S&P 500 is still on track for its best quarter since six years ago, when stocks rocketed out of the crash caused by the COVID pandemic.
Concentrix tumbled 17.3 per cent after the technology company reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that were just shy of analysts’ expectations.
In the oil market, prices edged higher as two U.S. envoys arrived in Qatar for talks with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran. The Americans will not be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Doha.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 0.4 per cent to US$74.24, though it’s below its peak well above $100 earlier in the war. The hope is that an end to the war will restore full access to the Strait of Hormuz, allowing oil tankers to move more crude and lower its price.
Expensive oil has already sent inflation jumping around the world, which in turn has raised worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks may have to raise interest rates. Higher rates would keep a lid on inflation, but they would also slow economic growth and hurt prices for investments.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.39 per cent from 4.38 per cent late Monday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
Germany’s DAX returned 1.1 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi climbed one per cent for two of the bigger gains. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.9 per cent as the value of the Japanese yen dropped near its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in 40 years.
U.S. government bonds are paying much higher yields than their Japanese counterparts, and the possibility of rate hikes by the Fed is putting more pressure on the yen. Speculation is rising that Japan’s government may try to prop up the yen’s value, but Japan’s finance minister said only that the government was ready to “respond appropriately whenever necessary.”
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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
By Stan Choe
