Stocks fell Tuesday as recent gains boosted by easing trade tensions propel stocks near their peak, ending the S&P 500's six-day winning streak. The broader market slipped about 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 100 points and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.4% lower.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.39% or -23.14 points to 5,940.46
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.27% or -114.83 points to 42,677.24
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.38% or -72.75 points to 19,142.71
Market sentiment has remained positive since the United States and China reached a temporary deal to scale down tariffs imposed on each nation, pushing the S&P 500 to multiple several-session winning streaks over the past five weeks and bringing the index to about 3% from its record high; the S&P briefly reached a bear market in April after President Donald Trump announced his initial tariff policies.
However, uncertainty still remains around the impacts of tariffs on the economy, even at their lower levels. On Friday, Moody's Ratings downgraded its U.S. sovereign credit rating to align with ratings from peers Standard and Poor's and Fitch Ratings. The decision offers another sign that borrowing costs are likely to remain high across the U.S. economy as price pressures from tariffs take effect.
Consumer bellwether Home Depot (NYSE: HD) offered a bright spot when it comes to tariffs on Tuesday, with the home improvement retailer reiterating its full-year sales outlook despite its fiscal first-quarter earnings miss. The company expects total sales to grow by 2.8% and comparable sales by about 1% -- with expectations based on the current U.S. tariff rate of 30% on imports from China and 10% on most other nations.
Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail told multiple news outlets on Tuesday that Home Depot does not plan to increase prices in response to tariffs. Last week, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) warned that tariffs will have impact on consumer prices.
"On tariffs -- it's important to remember that more than 50 percent of our purchases are sourced in the United States. We've been working with our vendors for years to further diversify our global supply chain," McPhail told Yahoo Finance in a statement. "During that time, the vast majority of our supplier partners diversified their sourcing strategies across several countries," added that Home Depot expects that "no single country outside of the United States will represent more than 10% of our purchases" a year from now.
In the News:
Warby Parker (NYSE: WRBY) shares jumped nearly 16% on Tuesday after the direct-to-consumer eyewear retailer announced a partnership with Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) to create AI-powered smart glasses. Google has commited up to $75 million for product development and commercialization through Warby Parker alongside an additional $75 million subject to certain collaboration milestones.
"The companies are working closely on the development of future smart glasses and intend to launch a series of products over time," the company said in a release. "The partners' first line of intelligent eyewear, planned to launch after 2025, will incorporate multimodal AI with prescription and non-prescription lenses."
Shares of COVID vaccine leaders Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) rose Tuesday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidance for booster shots, setting stricter approval standards for healthy adults and children -- now requiring new clinical trials demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of updated vaccines before approving them. Previously, the regulatory agency approved booster vaccines based on simple antibody tests.
"The FDA's new Covid-19 philosophy represents a balance of regulatory flexibility and a commitment to gold-standard science," the agency said in the paper. "The FDA will approve vaccines for high-risk persons and, at the same time, demand robust, gold-standard data on persons at low risk."
Looking Ahead:
Investors will turn their attention towards more key retail earnings reports from Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) and Target (NYSE: TGT) on Wednesday.