Stocks ended Tuesday's session mixed as consumer confidence data fell to its lowest point since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Yet, that did not stop the S&P 500 and Nasdaq's recent outperformance, with both indices closing at record highs again. The Dow, however, slid due to a coming shake up for the index at that end of the month.
Announced after market close on Monday, Dow components Exxon Mobil
Meanwhile, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for August unexpectedly fell to 84.8, replacing April's low as consumers become more concerned about the economic future. August's reading declined by July's revised reading of 91.7. In addition, the percentage of consumers that expect business condition to improve over the next six months also fell to 29.9% from July's 31.6%.
"Consumers' optimism about the short-term outlook, and their financial prospects, also declined and continues on a downward path," Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board said in a statement. "Consumer spending has rebounded in recent months by increasing concerns amongst consumes about the economic outlook and their financial well-being will likely cause spending to cool in the months ahead."
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Major Stock News, Apple
For Sector Performance, industries ended Tuesday's session split as uneven economic data tried to balance itself against improving market sentiment. The performance gainers were Communication Services +0.97%, Health Care +0.70%, Consumer Discretionary +0.53%, Information Technology +0.525, Real Estate +0.31% and Financials +0.27%. The performance losers were Energy -1.42%, Utilities -0.92%, Materials -0.32%, Consumer Staples -0.13%, Industrials -0.09%.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar
For the mid-week, investors will focus on more economic data like weekly mortgage applications and durable goods orders slated to release on Wednesday.