U.S. Stocks Little Changed After Recovering From Early Weakness

After moving to the downside early in the session, stocks have regained ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages have climbed well off their lows of the session and are now lingering near the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Dow is up 26.79 points or 0.1 percent at 44,497.20, the S&P 500 is down 0.15 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 6,066.29 and the Nasdaq is down 20.61 points or 0.1 percent at 19,693.66.

The recovery by stocks may partly reflect a notable advance by shares of Apple (AAPL), with the tech giant surging by 2.7 percent.

The jump by Apple comes after a report from The Information said the company is partnering with Alibaba (BABA) to roll out artificial intelligence features for iPhone users in China.

Stocks moved to the downside in early trading amid lingering concerns about a global trade war after President Donald Trump officially announced tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports.

A statement from the White House said Trump is reinstating a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and increasing tariffs on aluminum imports to 25 percent.

Traders are also digesting congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who told the Senate Banking Committee the central bank does “not need to be in a hurry” to adjust its policy stance.

Powell noted interest rates have been lowered by a full percentage point since last September, describing the Fed’s current policy stance as “significantly less restrictive than it had been.”

“We know that reducing policy restraint too fast or too much could hinder progress on inflation,” Powell said. “At the same time, reducing policy restraint too slowly or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment.”

Powell also suggested the Fed has options in determining the future path for rates depending on how the economy evolves.

“If the economy remains strong and inflation does not continue to move sustainably toward 2 percent, we can maintain policy restraint for longer,” Powell said. If the labor market were to weaken unexpectedly or inflation were to fall more quickly than anticipated, we can ease policy accordingly.”

He continued, “We are attentive to the risks to both sides of our dual mandate, and policy is well positioned to deal with the risks and uncertainties that we face.”

Sector News

While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, networking stocks are seeing considerable weakness, dragging the NYSE Arca Networking Index down by 2.0 percent.

Significant weakness is also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

On the other hand, oil producer stocks have moved notably higher along with the price of crude oil, driving the NYSE Arca Oil Index up by 1.4 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Tuesday, with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.1 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi climbed by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, European stocks have moved modestly higher on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is just above the unchanged line, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the downside after ending the previous session roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 4.2 basis points at 4.537 percent.