NEW YORK — Stock indexes are closing mostly lower Tuesday on Wall Street as the market’s momentum slows further on worries about rising virus counts and Washington’s inability to deliver more aid to the economy.
The S&P 500 lost 0.3% after swinging between small gains and losses earlier.
Most stocks in the index were lower, particularly oil producers and other companies whose profits tend to track the strength of the economy.
Technology stocks rose, sending the Nasdaq higher, after AMD said it would buy fellow chipmaker Xilinx for $35 billion. The market is coming off its worst drop in a month. Treasury yields retrenched again.
The parade of companies reporting better profits than expected for the last quarter also continued to grow, helping to steady the market somewhat. Merck, Invesco and Laboratory Corp. of America were among the roughly two dozen companies in the S&P 500 reporting earnings for the summer that topped analysts' expectations Tuesday morning.
Caution continues to hang over markets. Coronavirus counts keep climbing at a troubling rate across much of the United States and Europe. The worry is that could lead to the return of lockdowns in hopes of slowing the pandemic’s spread, which could further choke off the improvements the economy showed during the summer.
The U.S. economy’s momentum has already slowed following the expiration of supplemental benefits for laid-off workers and other support that Congress approved for the economy earlier this year.
Reports on the economy released Tuesday were mixed. Orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose 1.9% in September, an acceleration from August’s 0.4% growth and better than economists expected but well below July’s 11.8%. Consumer confidence also weakened a bit in October, when economists were expecting it to hold steady.
“The market was really set up for any sort of a negative surprise that could potentially impact it,” said Scott Knapp, chief market strategist at CUNA Mutual Group.
Investors have been clamoring for Congress to deliver another round of stimulus for the economy, but they’re increasingly acknowledging it won’t happen anytime soon.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin continued their negotiations on a deal Monday afternoon, and a Pelosi spokesman said she’s optimistic an agreement can happen before Election Day. But even if a deal is reached, it could wither in the face of resistance from Republicans controlling the Senate. After confirming the latest Supreme Court justice, the Senate is unlikely to return to session until Nov. 9.
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