Stocks fell on Tuesday to open November on a low note as market participants anxiously awaited the Federal Reserve's upcoming monetary policy decision. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped about 80 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite were 0.4% and 0.9% lower, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.41% or -15.88 points to 3,856.10
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.24% or -79.75 points to 32,653.20
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.89% or -97.30 points to 10,890.85
Wall Street opened higher on Tuesday, but turned negative after September's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed openings unexpectedly rose last month to 10.7 million from 10.28 million in August. Investors fear that labor market's persistent strength despite soaring inflation will lead the Fed to continue the pace of its hawkish rate hikes.
Still, Tuesday's losses were mitigated by strong earnings reports from companies like Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) and Snap (NYSE: SNAP) also led tech gains Tuesday on reports that Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr is reportedly calling on the U.S. government to ban TikTok.
Tuesday also kicked off the Fed's two-day November meeting, it's late policy-setting meeting of the year. Analysts expect the central bank will issue another 75 basis point interest rate hike at the meeting's conclusion on Wednesday, with investors set to watch the Fed's statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's subsequent remarks for signs the Fed is ready to slow the pace of tightening.
Beyond the central bank's new policy decision, market participants are gearing up for another big week of earnings reports and economic news, with highlights including the Labor Department's jobs report for October.
Wall Street is coming off a strong month of gains for October, with the Dow climbing nearly 14% to mark its biggest monthly gain since January 1976. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also added 8% and 4% last month, respectively.
October's strong gains weren't enough to encourage analysts, with Citi (NYSE: C) cautioning investors to not expect a year-end rally this year.
"No year-end rally in our view," Citi analyst Hannah Sheetz wrote in a note on Tuesday. "Seasonals are much stronger when returns are positive through October--this year they are not."
Sheetz cautions that the strength of this winter's rally will likely be weak given lackluster returns throughout the summer months. Citi also warns that any outperformance could be "just a normal Santa Claus rally in disguise."