Stocks had a pretty rocky session on Tuesday as traders weighed mixed corporate earnings against the coming U.S. federal stimulus bill and the Federal Reserve's updated monetary policy. Investor sentiment was also cratered by consumer confidence falling more than expected for July as coronavirus cases remain dangerously high throughout the United States.
Late on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unveiled the new $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill, outlining more stimulus for unemployed Americans, another round of direct deposits, more small business loan funds, as well as extended relief plans. However, the bill plans to change federal unemployment insurance to be 70% of the worker's previous wages, replacing the $600 per week additional assistance that is set to expire this week. The bill is currently under debate in Congress.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell to 92.6 in July from June's upwardly revised reading of 98.3.
"Consumer Confidence declined in July following a large gain in June," Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, stated in a release. "Large declines were experienced in Michigan, Florida, Texas and California, no doubt a result of the resurgence of COVID-19."
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.65% or -20.96 points to 3,218.45
Dow Jones Industrials Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.77% or -205.35 points to 26,379.42
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -1.27% or 134.18 points to 10,402.09
For Major Stock News, lackluster quarterly earnings from McDonald's (MCD) and 3M (NYSE: MMM) weighed down the Dow Jones. Tech stocks--Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL)--fell ahead of earnings and as the companies' CEOs prepare to testify before Congress. Reopening stocks--American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL), Carnival Cruise (NYSE: CCL), Norwegian Cruise (NYSE: NCLH), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), Southwest (NYSE: LUV), and United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL)--all increased as investors cashed in on the travel sector's bottom.
For Sector Performance, most industries fell during Tuesday's session, with only Real Estate +2.05%, Utilities +1.56% and Consumer Staples +0.30% posting positive gains. The negative sector performance was as follows: Materials -2.18%, Energy -1.75%, Consumer Discretionary -1.23%, Information Technology -1.22%, Communication Services -0.92%, Industrials -0.66%, Financials -0.28% and Health Care -0.14%.
For Commodities and Currency, crude oil future fell on steady demand fears, with West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) dropping 1.35% to $41.04 per barrel and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) falling 0.44% to $43.22 per barrel. Gold (NYSE: GLD) continued to gain ahead of the Fed's monetary policy decision, with spot gold pushing up 0.3% to $1,947.51 per ounce and futures climbing 0.93% to $1,949.00 per ounce. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) rebounded by 0.18% on Tuesday, but further weakness is expected to follow in the coming weeks due to uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus and economic stimulus.
For the mid-week, investors will focus of the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision as well as more quarterly earnings from stocks like Boeing (NYSE: BA), General Electric (NYSE: GE), and pandemic-friendly Shopify (NYSE: SHOP).