Wall Street today: US stocks fall as focus shifts to Fed policy cues

US stocks fell on Tuesday, following a record-breaking performance the previous day, which saw both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indices reach new closing highs.

The market’s attention has now decisively shifted towards a series of Federal Reserve speakers who are due to provide fresh indications regarding the future direction of monetary policy. Investors are closely awaiting these statements for cues on interest rates and the overall economic outlook.

As of noon Eastern Time, the S&P 500 dipped 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.7% lower.

As of 9:35 a.m. Eastern Time, the S&P 500 rose 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% higher.

At the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.9 points, or 0.01%, to 46,700.9. The S&P 500 rose 5.9 points, or 0.09%, to 6,746.14​, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 30.7 points, or 0.13%, to 22,972.369.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.15% from 4.18% late on Monday.

Gainers and Losers

Shares of IBM surged 3% after announcing a partnership that will integrate Anthropic’s Claude AI chatbot into some of IBM’s software products.

A day after Advanced Micro Devices stock rallied on a deal with OpenAI, AMD climbed another 6.6% on Tuesday.

Constellation Brands stock climbed 5.6% after the beer and wine company reported better than expected third quarter results.

Ford stock tumbled 5.4% following a fire in an Oswego, New York aluminum plant that is expected to reduce supplies to the auto giant for months.

Bullion

Gold prices continued its record-breaking rally on Tuesday, hovering just $22 shy of the $4,000 per ounce milestone, driven by persistent safe-haven demand amid the ongoing US government shutdown.

Spot gold rose 0.4% to $3,978.01 per ounce by 0923 a.m. ET (1323 GMT), after hitting an all-time high of $3,985.48 earlier in the session.

US gold futures for December delivery added 0.6% to $4,000.90.

Among other metals, spot silver fell 0.4% at $48.31 per ounce, platinum lost 0.1% to $1,624.63 and palladium edged up 1.6% at $1,340.68.

Crude Oil

Oil prices saw a decline on Tuesday as investor sentiment was dampened by concerns over possible market oversupply. The slight drop occurred even as analysts weighed the recently announced OPEC output rise for November, which was smaller than market expectations.

Brent crude futures fell 39 cents, or 0.6%, to $65.08 a barrel at 1321 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude lost 38 cents, or 0.62%, to $61.31.